Let's pretend the language barrier. Doesn't exist.

[liveforhersake]

[Many moons had passed since Leysa said goodbye to Grandfather and ventured into the world. Through a strong will and a cunning mind, she had overcome great adversaries and crossed strange and terrifying lands. With her precious bundle weighing heavily on her back, Leysa fearlessly faced her next trial. Perhaps, she thought, this would be the place

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[rockinthrutime]

[Arceus is sleeping a small mountain not far away.]

[liveforhersake]

[The eyes beneath her mother's embrace had always been swift and sharp. Although not within this strange building's gates, that while being had captured the attention of Leysa the Strong.

...Hadn't the stories she'd heard said...?

Perhaps this needs investigating. Leysa moves away from the gates, hastening towards the white being. The distance is short, and the nearer she draws, the quicker her pace.

For she has heard many tales of the all-mother, and this being matches them all. A gleaming white creature within a shining wheel, glorious and golden and dark. When she arrives, she cannot even speak. She is both out of breath and speechless with awe.

At long last, she is able to summon a whisper.]

You are the all-mother. You are the one I seek.

[rockinthrutime]

[It is a few moments before she speaks, as when Arceus dreams, her slumber is quite deep.

Perhaps by self-conservation, perhaps knowing that Leysa would be there and then knew when she must awaken, Arceus stirs and lifts up her head, looking at the Cubone.

A few Starly that had been using her horns as a rest fly off.]

Greetings, little one.

[liveforhersake]

[Leysa lowers herself to one knee, bowing her head respectfully.]

All-mother. I have come to ask a favour of you.

[Though she isn't able to keep her hands from shaking, she kepts her voice steady and her heart is sure. Leysa removes the bundle from her back, speaking as she does so.]

I had a mother once. Then the greedy ones came. My mother sought to protect me, and split into three parts. Her bones became my sword and shield. Her body became stone. Her soul became a spirit, raging at those who had torn her apart.

[She opens the bundle now, displaying the broken remains of the gravestone.]

One day, the spirit went away. I was told that she was with God now. So I have come to you, God. These are the parts that were left behind. Please, reunite spirit-mother and stone-mother. And... allow me to be with them once more.

[rockinthrutime]

[Arceus gives off a quiet huff. She's had this talk with others before.]

So what I was told is true, then. They destroyed the tower.

[She looks at the Cubone with interest. It is hard to judge how she currently feels, considering she has no mouth or nose]

So you seek reunification.

Tell me, if I had the powers to revive the dead, why would I choose your mother?

[liveforhersake]

She should not have died, all-mother. She did not perish so another could eat. She was not called quietly to your side. No sickness beckoned to her. She was torn away by the avarice of others.

[And though she is Leysa the Strong, she cannot stop the tears, for although she is a warrior, she is also a child who has lost her mother, and time and distance alone cannot change that.]

Even in the face of futility, she would stand and risk every part of herself for one she loved. Now the one she loved is here to do the same. She is with you, all-mother, is she not? Let me see her once more.

Surely you must understand our pain, for are you not a mother yourself?

[rockinthrutime]

[She nods.]

I am. I consider all the children of this world my own.

[Arceus stands up and cranes her next to be at the Cubone's height, before looking upwards towards the skies with a sigh.]

While I created life, who dies and who lives is not something I can control or dictate. I promised myself not to involve in such affairs after what happened so long ago.

You are not alone little one. I can hear every cry of death around the world. Peaceful, terrible, terrifying. Your mother died protecting you. If she was to return to life, the noble sacrifice she made would be cheapened. There are many even in this school who have lost family. Alas all I can tell you is that she is at peace now.

[liveforhersake]

[Leysa had known this from the start. The all-mother was not to blame; she spoke a great truth. Neither mother nor soldier nor sparrow nor king... no being can conquer death. Leysa's mother was gone. She would never return.]

Then it was all for naught.

[Her false hope had run out at last.

Leysa the Strong broke down and cried. Great, mournful wails that rattled and echoed within her mother's skull, that wracked her small body, that clutched at her heart like a rock-snake's jaws.]

[rockinthrutime]

[At first there was nothing. It was as if Arceus had disappeared behind her, and Leysa's cries echoed on the mountain top.

Then hands, human ones. Warm. Not at all like the strong, cold metallic pelt of the great beast. They wrapped themselves around her and brought her closer to her beating heart. There is a small understanding smile.]

No journey is for naught.

[Warm water falls on Leysa's skull. Little droplets at intervals. Is Arceus crying?]

[liveforhersake]

[...It's almost like being in her own mother's arms again. Although her journey had given her strength, a traveller is forever a stranger, and a stranger has nowhere to turn for a mother's loving embrace.

It took a moment for Leysa to realize her skull is wet. Her mother's face is strong shield, after all, but it cannot feel anything.]

All-mother... are these tears?