If there was one thing that Cresselia wasn't expecting, it was the appearance of her counterpart. No matter how much she may have wanted him to show up at that moment, she was still completely caught off-guard when she looked up to find him hovering a few feet away from her, a puzzled expression on his face.

"D-Darkrai..." She hoped that her tears weren't too audible in her voice as she shook her head and picked herself up, slowly resuming her hover. "What are you doing here...?"

Darkrai reached up to rub at the back of his neck. "I could ask you the same thing; you shouldn't be out here in this storm."

She blinked at him in response. He wasn't concerned about her, was he? Promptly putting that thought out of her head - he was probably just pointing out her lack of common sense - Cresselia fidgeted uncomfortably for a moment before answering him. "Uhm... well..." She didn't get much else out, however; a sudden clap of thunder tore through the sky and she yelped, curling herself up the best that she could while still maintaining her hover. She was unable to speak for a few moments after the fact: she may not have been scared of Darkrai, but because of her timid nature, she definitely hated loud noises, including thunder. It was as if her voice had flat-out died on her. "I-I..."

Darkrai took notice of her fear - was she shaking? - and hesitantly moved closer to her. "Hey..." When she failed to respond, he reached out and took hold of one of her paws. "Come on. Let's find some shelter."

Nervously peeking up at him as he took her by the hand, she gave a silent nod and followed after him as he started to pull her along. He led her through the forest, and while his grip on her paw wasn't exactly gentle, he clutched it with a firmness that piqued Cresselia's curiosity.

He was just leading her along, right? There couldn't have been any other reasons for holding her hand like that, right? That was all; it was completely innocent, there was no need to read into it too much. It was never good for one to get their hopes up. But still, there was something in the deepest recesses of her heart that wished there were something else compelling him to do this for her--

Another rumble of thunder, and she squeaked and grasped his hand with both of her paws, losing her train of thought completely.

His hover paused, and he turned around to look at her. "Cresselia?"

Her eyes were tightly squeezed shut, and she was shivering as if she'd just been hit with an Icy Wind attack.

Darkrai eyed her for a few moments before heaving a sigh. The Lunar Pokémon looked so pitiful at the moment that somehow, it brought back images of the nightmare he'd had earlier that night: she was falling, falling, descending into darkness, and he could do so little to save her... and by letting her fear of the storm paralyze her now, it was if she were falling yet again.

Something was different this time, though; this time, he actually had the power to 'save' her, or at least soothe her anxiety.

Through the treetops, a flash of lightning could be seen illuminating the sky, and... maybe it was just a raindrop, but for a moment he could've swore that he saw tears in her eyes. But whatever it was, it made something well up inside of him - that same urge to protect that he'd felt during his nightmare was overcoming him now, and before he could stop himself, he moved forward and placed his free hand beneath her chin.

"...Cresselia."

She briefly tensed up, the sudden touch startling her. It took her a moment, but she eventually pried her eyes open enough to look at him, and she let out a short gasp upon seeing that his one visible eye was staring straight into hers - just like in her dream. Again, just like in her dream, she could something within the cyan depths that she couldn't quite decipher, though that something became quite apparent with his next words.

"Don't be afraid. I won't... let anything happen to you."

Cresselia was at a loss for words. The sound of the rain, the deafening thunder, the flashes of lightning - all of them went forgotten as her eyes locked onto his; the burning gaze was intense and as cold as ice, yet somehow, it caused some kind of warmth to stir inside of her. Said warmth had rendered her speechless, so she simply nodded in response and averted her gaze, a light blush forming on her face.

"Now come on," Darkrai said quietly, releasing her from his grasp. "Your cave's around here somewhere, isn't it? You know this island better than--"

He was cut off by a loud crashing noise and what sounded like the splintering of wood. Had a tree been hit by lightning? Either way, staying there was a bad idea, and he wanted to find shelter as soon as possible, for Cresselia's sake as well as his own. "...you'd better lead the way."

She hadn't quite recovered from the shock of his affirmation yet, so all she could do was nod in response and take the lead, hovering through the woods again. Quickly - the sooner they got out of that storm, the better; at this point her nerves were completely shot.

Eventually, they broke through into the clearing that she tended to spend most of her time in. Cresselia paused to glance at the crescent-shaped pond in the middle: instead of reflecting the moonlight above as it usually did, it was greyed over because of the dark clouds overhead. She frowned upon seeing that the heavy rain had caused the puddle to grow in size so that the shape was now obscured and unrecognizable.

And somewhere in her mind, she couldn't help but wonder if it was a parallel to the state of her heart at the time. Cloaked in shadow and overflowing with emotion...

Cresselia shook the thought out of her head. She really needed to get her priorities straight; she could consider that once they were in a drier area. So she continued on past the clearing, her small cave finally coming into view.

Once inside, she shuddered vigorously in an attempt to shake off all of the water off of her body. That was probably as dry as she was going to get. But now that she actually lacked the distraction of the rain and thunder, there was room for other things to weigh on her mind. Namely the fact that her counterpart was there with her, and considering what had just happened between them, along with the dream she'd had...

It was a little awkward.

She tried not to let her anxiety show too much as she floated over to a pile of soft grasses that lay on the ground; she slowly lowered herself down onto it, letting out a sigh before looking over at Darkrai.

The Pitch-Black Pokémon was still dripping water as he leaned against a wall near the entrance of the cave. His arms were crossed as he gazed out into the stormy night outside, seemingly transfixed on the lightning branching itself through the sky. His comforting demeanor from earlier seemed to have faded, and it made her wonder: had she done something wrong? It was hard to tell what did and didn't anger him, and her nervousness was making her paranoid.

A few minutes of silence passed before she finally managed to speak.

"...you don't have to stay over there by yourself. You can come over here... I mean, it's drier..."

His response was so quiet that she almost didn't hear it over the rain: "I'm fine by myself."

Cresselia tilted her head in confusion. "Are you sure...? You'll get sick if you don't get dried off."

After a moment of consideration, Darkrai sighed and let his arms fall to his sides, turning to glance at her over his shoulder. There was a look of concern on her face, and there was something strange reflected in her eyes; it was unusual and not unlike what he'd seen in his nightmare. She was worried about him? He thought it would've been more appropriate for it to be the other way around - the images of falling were still clearly visible in his mind - but then again, Cresselia worried about everyone. He supposed he wasn't any different.

He turned around to face her fully. "Do you want me to?"

She blinked in response, caught off-guard by his question. "What...?"

"Do you want me to come over there?"

Her face flushed again and she bashfully looked down at the ground, twiddling her paws a bit. Without looking up at him, she nodded, perhaps a bit more than necessary.

Darkrai wasn't surprised. It was still thundering quite a bit, and if it would help to ease her apprehension, then...

He have a slight shrug and shook himself off a bit before floating over to where she was resting, lowering himself down to the grasses next to her. He crossed his arms again, resuming his oh-so-exciting task of brooding and staring out into the night.

This... was kind of uncomfortable. It wouldn't be so much if there weren't so many things he wanted to ask her - and likewise, if he hadn't had that nightmare - but at the moment, he didn't want to place even more pressure on her by doing so. The tension in the air was thick and heavy with stress, and it didn't really help that she was sitting awfully close to him. Had she moved closer to him, or had he sat down that close to her to begin with? Regardless, this was an incredibly unfamiliar situation he was in, and he wasn't sure what to say. But luckily, he didn't have to say anything.

"Darkrai?"

He peered at her from the corner of his eye. "Yes?"

"...Darkrai."

"Yes?" he repeated, this time turning his head to look at her. "What is it, Cresselia?"

She was fidgeting a bit, appearing as if she wanted to say something. She opened her mouth a few times in some sort of silent stammer before taking a deep breath. "Darkrai," she started, "can I... ask you something...?"

If he had visible eyebrows, he would've raised one of them at her. Instead, he simply eyed her for a moment before nodding, his gaze moving down to the ground. "Go ahead."

"D-do you..." Well, now that she'd started speaking, she suddenly blanked. Or at least that's what she was assuming had happened; she wasn't about to chalk it up to losing her will to ask him what she wanted to. "Uhm... what do you dream about?" Cresselia mentally smacked herself. That wasn't what she'd meant to say at all! But it was too late now; like always, her nerves prevented her from voicing exactly what was on her mind. At least she'd managed to say something at all this time, though.

Darkrai, on the other hand, was completely taken aback by her inquiry. It took a moment for the gravity of the question to hit him, and when it did, he averted his eyes - his face felt quite warm all of a sudden. "... Why do you ask?" Surely she didn't know about his nightmare, did she? She could see the dreams of any being she wanted too, so did that mean she could see his, too?

Blushing faintly herself, she craned her neck over in an attempt to look him in the eyes. "...curiosity," she replied quietly. "You're the one who creates nightmares, so... do you have them, yourself?" That seemed like good enough reasoning...

"...using that logic, I could ask the same thing of you, dream-maker."

"Yes, but I asked first. So you answer first."

"... Fine," Darkrai answered after a few long moments of deliberation. "I dream... of falling. The purest beings descend into darkness, whether it is by my hand or not, and there is... immeasurable fear. It's inconceivable, even to beings such as myself, who are so adept at causing fear in others." When in doubt, it helped to be vague.

Luckily for him, Cresselia seemed to buy it. "...that's sad," she mused somberly. "Well, maybe not to you, but... it is to me."

"I expected nothing less." He briefly glanced over at his companion before heaving a sigh, casting his eyes back out to the darkness outside. "But there you have it. Now it's your turn. What lies in your dreams?"

Her blush intensified, and she quickly turned away from him. "... Dancing," she replied, "dancing beneath the moon. I dance for so long that I lose track of time, and before I know it, I'm waking up to the sight of this, or my pond, or..." Her focus shifted down to the ground. "...it's a little depressing."

He finally looked over at her again, quite curious about her last words. Against his better judgement - she really did look kind of upset - he pressed the matter. "Depressing? How so?"

Cresselia's heart was starting to pound now. She hadn't anticipated the conversation taking a turn in this direction, but in retrospect, it wasn't all that surprising; now she could barely remember what she'd originally meant to say when she initially broke the silence between them. What could she say now? What could possibly be depressing about dancing under the moonlight, except for...

"...I don't... I don't dance alone, Darkrai." She looked up at him only for a moment, cheeks now stained a bright pink. "In my dreams, I..."

He nodded at her, urging her to continue. His own heart was starting to race for some reason that he couldn't quite place...

She swallowed the sudden lump in her throat. It felt like her words were trying to leave her again; her throat was closing up and it felt as if she were on fire and she was almost positive that he could hear her heartbeat by now-- no. Cresselia couldn't let herself back out now, she'd already come too far. She had long since passed the point of no return, so she might as well buck up.

"In my dreams, I-I'm dancing with you."

Silence.

Darkrai simply stared at her for several long moments upon hearing her confession. "...I see," he finally whispered, suddenly finding the ground incredibly interesting.

So, she dreamed of dancing with him. And awakening from these dreams made her unhappy. Either she was making things up - why would she possibly enjoy a thing like that - or there was something she wasn't telling him. "Well... as long as we're having this heart-to-heart, let's say... in my dreams, I see you falling into darkness. As for the fear? That all-encompassing fear that paralyzes you from head to toe?"

She was looking up at him now, her eyes wide and face flushed.

"That fear belongs to me."

The thunder outside was still rumbling like an earthquake in the sky, but it didn't register in either of their minds - they were both completely preoccupied by the situation at hand.

It seemed like an eternity before Cresselia finally spoke up again. "B-but... what does this mean?" She almost had to choke her words out. "I've had this dream for the last few nights, and every time I awaken from them, it feels... more and more painful. I just..." Her eyes were starting to tear up again. It was as if all of the emotions in her heart were threatening to overflow, just like her pond had. "...every time I look you in the eye, I see pain. Not only that, but... loneliness, and insult, and..."

She didn't even notice that her tears were falling to the grass below, or that he was staring at her again. "Knowing you have that hidden inside of you hurts me too, Darkrai. I don't... want you to feel that way; I want to take away that pain that you feel. I don't want you to feel lonely, because you're not alone. I'm here. I..."

Her voice finally gave out, so she just settled for staring at the floor, allowing her tears to fall freely.

Needless to say, Darkrai was totally blown away by her catharsis. She really felt like that about him? All of a sudden, the meaning behind his nightmare became all too apparent to him. He may have been the god of nightmares and darkness and terror - the master of everything horrible and frightening and wrong - and yet...

She didn't seem to care. It didn't seem to matter to her that he was supposed to strike fear into others and be hated because of it, or that he was the direct opposite of her. But then, she never liked seeing anyone in pain, so it never hurt to double-check. "You... what are you saying, Cresselia?"

Finally, she lifted her head to look at him. She was still crying, but now she was looking him right in the eyes. "You're... you may be a being of darkness, but I know there's light inside of you. There's light inside of everyone. It's just harder to see in some than it is in others, but... I see it in you..."

Now he was completely torn. On one hand, he didn't believe her for a second; surely, a being like himself couldn't have a shred of 'light' inside of his heart. No decent thing inflicted pain and suffering on others. But on the other hand... she accepted him in spite of it. What to do...

Darkrai turned away from her, his doubt triumphing over his hope. "...I don't know what you're seeing in me, but it isn't 'light'. I'm a monster, Cresselia. I'd just... I'd ruin someone like you."

"No..." She shook her head and tried to meet his eyes again. "You don't think that... changes my feelings, do you? You're my opposite. The new moon to my full moon. You wouldn't... ruin me, you'd complete me. And I... if you don't want to see the light inside of you, then..."

Cresselia sniffled and leaned forward, her forehead resting against his shoulder. "Then let me be your light..."

Now he was the one at a loss for words. Why did she care so much? How could she care so much? A myriad of questions and thoughts were running through his mind at this point, though before long, one of them made itself crystal clear: he was afraid of losing her because she, unlike any other being that he knew of, accepted him unconditionally. She didn't care that he was the darkness; she still saw his pain and sought to relieve it, and he knew that he would never come across a being who wanted that in this lifetime, or possibly any other ones he might live through.

"Cresselia..."

He backed away from her - only enough so that he could turn around to face her - and reached up to place his hands on either side of the crescent adorning her head. Doing so forced her to meet his eyes again, and he gazed into them with such an intensity that he couldn't even tell what it was. Whatever it was, it made him feel warm and... oddly complete. Before, he'd felt so empty, but now...

Brushing her tears away with one clawed hand, he lifted his head so that his rarely-seen mouth and chin were visible. And before he could stop himself - or perhaps he didn't even want to - he leaned forward and brushed his lips against her forehead in as much of a comforting gesture as he could muster up.

Her eyes widened at the sudden contact, but any surprise completely dissolved as she felt a kind of warmth rapidly spreading throughout her body. It was as if her heart had exploded and all of her sadness and fear and worry was drying up, and happiness was beginning to take its place. "Darkrai...?"

Wordlessly, he drew her into his arms, if only so she wouldn't see that his own face was quite flushed. It took him a few moments to work up the nerve to speak again, but once he did, his voice was soft. "...thank you. There was... always a moon in my dark sky, even if I couldn't see it."

Cresselia just smiled and snuggled into his embrace, her eyes now filled with happy tears. Only when she grew quite comfortable in his arms, did she realize how tired she was - she'd awakened from her dream only a few hours after falling asleep. "Will you... stay with me tonight?"

He answered the same way as he'd answered her earlier request: "Do you want me to?"

She pulled back to look at him. "...yes," she answered, "please."

Darkrai nodded and turned so that he was leaning against the wall, tugging her head down to rest in his lap. "Of course. Whatever you want." His fingers had began to affectionately stroke her head when a thought suddenly struck him. "...you won't have nightmares, will you?"

The Lunar Pokémon let out a chuckle and shifted a bit, making herself cozy in the new position. "...no, I think I'll have happy dreams for once."

And outside, the storm clouds were starting to give way to the earliest signs of dawn.

when you're inflicted by
the passion of love
desire and yearning
the deeper they burn

AUTHOR'S NOTES: SO THERE YOU GO. I had all kinds of problems getting this chapter out - I think my brain was broken from coughing up three 2000-word ficlets in the span of three days - but I managed to work through it and finish this up before the deadline I'd set for myself. :D

The quotes at the beginning and end of the chapters, as well as the title of this fic, are from the song "Reverie" by Lacuna Coil. That does not make it a songfic by any stretch of the imagination - I just thought the quotes would add a bit more meaning to the fic; a little more 'oomph', if you will. Also, a few quotes in this chapter were taken from an RP done with a friend.

This final chapter finishes off the 10 Hurt/Comfort Challenge that all of my LunarEclipseshipping fics have been for, but that doesn't mean I'm done writing the pairing at all! I've actually got some ideas in the works for a much longer fic, though LEshipping won't be the main pairing in it. It'll still be there though, so there's no need to worry. ;D

I hope you all enjoyed reading this as much as I did writing it. Even with all of the trouble I might've had, I still had a blast. :3

Usagi, over and out.