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It was hard to tell what Xernatus thought about it all, but it was at least enough that he tolerated Koa staying for a while. He was hesitant to take on burgers or other mortal meals... but maybe that would be worth trying later. Maybe a lot of it would be worth trying. By the time it got later...

He trembled with something between rage and grief, but at least a few of Dave's words got through to him. Just enough that he wasn't going to attack again, not unless provoked, perhaps. "Then how'd you do it?" he asked. "How did you convince... another one of me to tell you something like...

"Of course you would," Xernatus said, somewhere between annoyed and grateful. "It's... it's a lot. It's a lot for me to think about. I'm... tired. But I'll think about it." He looked at the splintered and ruined tree. "I'll think about... my choices."

"...You can't change the past," Diyem repeated, "but you can stop living it." The dark Charizard pondered those words, as well as everything else Nate had said. It was odd to see Diyem think so deeply; he didn't seem to... blink, when he did. Only stare; the only sign of true movement from him...

"I don't... really know what sort of name I should have." Xernatus looked down. "I think... I--I need time for... something like that. I've spend... well, 'spent' so much time as Xerneas, I don't know what I would go by otherwise. But... but to help out against... the Tree?" Xernatus looked...

A long time passed in that cold silence, punctuated occasionally with Xernatus making little sniffles or shifting his weight. He occasionally mumbled about being undignified, or letting himself go, or so many other things that he also wondered in the same breath if they mattered. But as that...

Xernatus flinched, looking at the tree, then Koa. "I..." His face--which was hard to read--seemed to scrunch up. "I don't... understand... I just don't..." And, finally, the serpent fell to the ground, making a sound between a squeak and a whimper. Confused and overwhelmed, no doubt, all he...

"Quite the opposite," Diyem replied with a cruel smile. "...Memories... deep, deep within me... within, perhaps, all spirits... are eternal. Experiences... the past... desires, thoughts... regrets, failures... they are all a long, long road that goes as far as you can see. And it goes onward...

"Oh, what's the difference?!" Xernatus shouted. "I used to think I was a god. How can a god have faith?! I have nothing. And I never will!" The wood creaked and cracked, and then, without warning, it collapsed entirely. The wood splintered and snapped as red energy coursed through it, and it...

"Everything," Diyem snarled, but it wasn't toward Nate. "Look at me. I take the form of a false body so people don't scream in terror. I only came to this world to save Eien, the one person I could truly care about. Do you think I would do any of what I did out of the goodness of my heart? What...

"I'll never be a hero," Diyem said immediately, looking away. "Entities like me can never be heroes. No matter what anybody tells me, be it Overseer or mortal or whoever else... I know that much is an unshakable truth."

"I... I..." Xerneas squeezed the tree trunk again. It looked like it was in danger of snapping. "I want to know why you care at all. Why any of you care. Why you keep... pestering me when I'm not even who you really want. What's the point? Blind faith?!" The wood creaked dangerously.

"I don't know..." Xernatus looked away. "I don't know anything... Just that I thought I was Xerneas. Th-that's all I know... that's all I..." He laughed a little. "I... I thought I'd lived for ages and ages, whole eras... and yet I'm only a few months old. Look at me now... You're older than I...

"I don't know," Xerneas said. "I felt... like I was supposed to help. That's... all I wanted. I had to protect the Tree. And I had to protect Diyem. And then... something changed, and I listened to what Diyem said, and that's it." Xernatus prodded the ground with what used to be its hoof...

"Being Xerneas is all I know." Xernatus shivered. "I... I thought I was him. I thought I was him all this time, and then I... one day I find out I'm not. I'm just someone who... replaced him. How would you feel if you... woke up one day and found out you weren't... whatever your name is?"...

Diyem didn't look like he wanted to hear Nate, but he also didn't order him to go away. His tail flicked and more darkness leaked from the corners of his mouth. "I suppose not," he grudgingly said. "But I don't see how that matters in the end. It's still... in my nature to be so cruel to others...

"Oh, I can choose. Fine. Then what happens if I choose to me Xerneas? Do you think anyone would agree? Do you think anyone would even... think of it at all?!" The tree trunk creaked against the pressure. "I'm... I'm never going to be what I wanted. What I was born thinking I was. It's all a...

"I just need... to talk to her. One last time... to apologize." Diyem looked out the window. Toast growled, or maybe it was a purr of some kind, and leaned into Diyem. "I can only imagine how she felt... seeing me with that mockery of a Xerneas... right in front of her. Not so much as speaking...

"Corrupted... I didn't even know I wasn't the person I was!" Xernatus flicked what used to be its lower body, now some kind of tail, in the snow. "I'm... Xerneas... but I know I'm not. I killed him. I killed him and stole his body and... now everyone just sees me as a parasite. They wanted to...

Nothing--not a word but also at least not an attack. The pile of coils did not move. But then, eventually, the thing's head rose from the ground, glimmering red-white eyes staring at Koa. "Oh, yeah?" it said, squeezing around the trunk. "Talk about what? Why do you care?"