Title: Midnight Admissions

Prompt: #76 – Broken Pieces

Pairings: Slight one-sided Ash/Misty

Rating: K

Warnings: Not great. That's all I've got to say.

Notes: I love feedback, so if you like it, hate it, or couldn't care less, let me know. For the record, I know this one's extremely short, and I'm planning to sneak an extra (also short) update in between my usual additions. I take any suggestions into consideration, including adding more chapters to a one-shot, plot ideas, or challenges. Thanks and I hope you enjoy.

Umm.. No. I don't own Pokemon. Whatsoever.

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"He who cannot forgive others breaks the bridge over which he must pass himself..." – Thomas Fuller

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Misty's feet patter lightly against the tile, sticky soles slapping gently each time bare flesh meets ground. Her fingers tumble through her hair, spine lithely curving as she reaches to slip a ponytail around her thick red mane.

But even as she slides from the cool night air and smoothly descends into water, her mind is elsewhere.

It's far away, delving deep into thickly blurred images, beckoning long-ago tales of Pikachus and invincibility; listless clouds of secrets, shared smiles spilling forth and drowning those who were caught in their wake. She feels, at last, peaceful, crowded head finally relieved of its consistent voices and plans and compromises. The water pushes down, crushes, twisting and spiraling and resulting in sweet, deafening silence. These brief, forbidden moments are the only times Misty gets to think nowadays.

She knows she should be asleep, preparing for the coming day's competition. 'The most important day of the year…'

But her mind had been so full of chatter, so tremendously, dizzyingly engaged, she saw no chance of rest.

But she had no time lately. No time to stop and remember her past and no time to pause and listen to the water or care for her Pokémon. Things were no longer simple, no longer quick and easy and rewarding.

So maybe tomorrow she will think about it. She promises to close her eyes and sort out the things she has been avoiding for so long. She knows she invents excuses, pulls them from thin air, but she can't help it. The idea of trying to fix things with the person she finds most important is terrifying.

So tomorrow she'll consider calling him. Tomorrow she'll contemplate congratulating him, and apologizing, and begging him to listen. Tomorrow…

She intends to mend the broken pieces.

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["Every man has need to be forgiven.."]

--Lunamire