Disclaimer -Just a klepto who makes a habit of stealing all the characters related to her OTPs so she can force them to interact the way she wants them to!
Author - Warlordess
Notes - Sorry for the delay. I started a second job as of early January and have fallen behind in basically every other way related to my existence. I eat once a day, get maybe four hours of sleep (and that's if I'm really lucky), etc. So of course writing also falls down on the list of priorities as well. Anyway, here's this!
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Title - "Goes Up In Flames"
Summary - Misty's PoV. The aftermath of her fallout with Ash on New Years Day.
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Almost three weeks - well, nineteen days, sixteen hours, and thirty-two minutes - after your fight with your best friend, your phone alerts you to a new email. And, though you're quite close to ignoring it until morning so that you can hop straight into bed and get some well-deserved sleep after the grueling day you've had running the Cerulean Gym, there's a small part of you that's too curious to do so.
Unfortunately you recognize the name and email address half-a-second too late and click to open it… to be greeted by a familiar sight of Ash Ketchum giving you the same weekly update he's given you for the past few years since you both had separated from each other.
Your eyes scroll through the text, noting some typos (but he's gotten much better than when he first started sending these), mentally deciphering what he may have meant, and taking in the few things that have happened since you returned home and left him behind.
He's just arrived in another region and has met with the resident Pokemon Professor over there. He's four days away from the town in which he'll be earning his first badge - you scoff at his confidence here, roll your eyes, move on - he and Pikachu are pumped to meet all of the new Pokemon and trainers and he can't wait to catch his first and-
-You stop there, the alarm bells going off in your head to remind you that you're supposed to be angry at him; that you are angry at him.
You immediately press the lock button on your phone, place it haphazardly on top of your nightstand, roll over, and force yourself to finally fall asleep.
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Thirteen days, two hours, and eleven minutes after that same fight, you re-enter the gym for the first time since you'd made your holiday visit to Pallet Town. There's a small part of you that regrets the way you left things, even if the way you left things was instigated by your best friend's ignorance, but there's a much larger part of you that is merely happy to return to your home, your safe haven, your saving grace and to be away from the fear and frustration of what could have been if only you'd had the stones to force Ash Ketchum into a long overdue conversation.
Of course, your attention shifts once more when a random aspiring Indigo League participant walks around you with a supportive friend at his side, claiming aloud to everyone around (only you at the moment, thank goodness) that he can't believe he was just given his latest badge.
You march purposefully into the main arena and are greeted with three giggling older siblings who tell you that they finally repaired the loose screws in the audience seating like you'd been asking them to do for the past couple of months.
You sigh at their ecstatic behavior. Of course they'd still think it was alright to pay passing trainers for favors with badges… Well, you were going to have words with them about it sooner or later. Sooner was probably the better option anyway.
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Ten days, six hours, and forty-seven minutes after that fight, you're psyching yourself up to make the trek through Mount Moon all by your lonesome. It wasn't like the place was particularly scary - hey, at least it wasn't a bug-infested forest - but there were always risks in traveling alone. Well, riskier risks than if you happened to be traveling with friends like Ash did.
Stupid Ash; doing whatever he can to avoid a serious discussion about the relationship between the two of you. Stupid Ash; always thinking about the next Pokemon, the next league, the next chance he would have to try and become the Pokemon Master. Stupid Ash; he never even tried to rectify his most recent conversational mistake with you before you left Pallet Town behind and started walking back home.
Stupid, stupid Ash… but even stupider you, who had such high hopes after what had transpired between the two of you a week and a half ago. Of course, you'd fall flat on your face after those expectations.
After all, it was Ash you were considering here.
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Three days, nine hours, and seventeen minutes after the worst night you can remember having in a long time, you're packing up your things to prepare yourself for the long, lonely walk home.
The hurt is still fresh, like an open wound bleeding out, the frustration and negativity at your fallout with your best friend pulsing erratically in your own head as if trying to convince you to do something to relieve it.
But you're done with all that. Jumping through hoops, playing gymnastics. All of that ducking, diving, twirling - none of it has ever been your style. Tiptoeing and dancing around has held you back from doing lots of things you've wanted to do over the years… like moving on for example.
You gave Ash Ketchum the option to talk about it and he shot you down. You practically begged him to tell you what it all meant - if anything - and he said that it just was what it was. There was no deep secret, no big motivator in his actions.
One brave tear has the audacity to try collecting at the corner of your eyelid before it dribbles down your cheek and towards your chin, but you ruthlessly wipe it away with the back of your hand before it can go the distance and then breathe deeply inward, gazing up at the white ceiling of the guest bedroom you'd been using for the past few days.
Everything makes you angry. Everything makes you hurt. But now, more than all of that, everything simply makes you tired.
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It's nineteen seconds after your most recent statement - "Then why should I bother trying either… right?" - and Ash Ketchum is staring blankly back at you as if unable to comprehend the meaning behind those words. Perhaps he's so dense that he never even noticed the effort you were making. To stay close, to get closer, to stay connected, to create new threads of connection between the two of you.
Your heart is breaking pathetically within you but you offer him a bittersweet smile anyway. You honestly should have known better than to expect any differently. This is Ash-freaking-Ketchum after all. You've never known anyone as well as you've known him.
This is why you don't push him any further into making a decision one way or another. Clearly he's not invested. Clearly he still doesn't understand. Clearly, quite clearly, this is still the kind of thing that doesn't matter much to him. Love is fine, yeah, sure, but Pokemon training is still the most important thing in the world. As for love… he can't even be bothered to give it the time of day.
He hasn't changed since he was ten years old, since the day you met him. This is why you know the decision can't be left up to him… so you decide to make it yourself and save you both the trouble.
"We're done here, Ash…" You turn your back and continue the six minute walk back to the Ketchum home. The last thing you want is one of your other friends to find you standing in the middle of the path between the Oak lab and your next destination.
You mourn the death of all that time you spent waiting and hoping when you should have known better.
"I'm done."
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Notes - Yay! I was able to update twice in a week! I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! The first part of the Valentines Day two-shot (in Misty's PoV) is at least half finished and should be posted sometime next week as long as I receive enough feedback.