I'll Take the Tears
A quick word - just want to say that 'Ashley' is a boys name, not a girls name. 'Ashleigh' is the female variant, so it is perfectly reasonable to call a boy Ashley, it's just that in recent times people have come to treat it as a variant spelling for the girls name. It was a boys name for like a full 350 years before Ashley Olsen came along.
More ArthurxMyst fluff in this one. I think they're my favourite made up couple next to William and Catherine. Yes, I support my own OC ships, there's totally nothing weird about that. I even already named Arthur and Myst's daughter (or Izzy's depending on the fic) - her name is Cecily Slate and she looks almost exactly like Misty but with Sabrina's eyes and Brock's temperament, doesn't she sound adorable?
DISCLAIMER: I do not own anything worth owning, 'cept for my laptop, but you can't have that 'cos it's mine and I really like it.
So you take the smiles . . . from all of our years
. . . I'll take the tears . . .
I'll Take the Tears – Flailing
Sapphire glared at her brother as they neared Cerulean City.
"What?" he questioned quietly, trying not to capture the attention of their two friends. Myst walked ahead of them, leading the way as she proved to be the only one with any sense of direction. Ashley dawdled behind tending to yet another surreptitiously captured Pokémon – this time a growlithe, which actually rounded out his team of accidentally captured Pokémon quite nicely.
Sapphire gave him another harsh glare before finally answering him in a clipped tone. "I know you threw that match, big brother," she told him darkly. "I know exactly what you're up to, and I won't stand for it."
Arthur scoffed at her words. "I'm not up to anything, Saph," he answered flippantly. "Myst won that fair and square."
"I'm not arguing that," she hissed back, "I'm saying that you could have won that match easy. I know which Pokémon you're carrying around and which ones you've been training with the longest – you could have won easily with your houndour, or abra, or even Haunter.
"In other words," she finished pointedly, "you threw the match."
"You're not serious, Saph," he responded indignantly. "I just underestimated Penny. That's all. Quit being so paranoid, mei mei."
Sapphire just huffed, unconvinced by Arthur's justification. It was a noob mistake to underestimate Myst's Pokémon, one that someone as perceptive as Arthur shouldn't have made. It wasn't the sort of mistake you made if you knew Myst, or if you knew where she had gotten her pichu from, and Arthur had absolutely no excuse for making it. Sapphire was right to be suspicious.
"Just know I'm watching you," she warned in an ominous tone, before happily skipping off to walk beside her best friend. The two girls began chatting animatedly, and Arthur almost doubted that the conversation had even happened.
It wasn't long before the foursome had arrived in Cerulean City. As they got closer, Ashley began to fidget conspicuously, slowing down the group to some extent.
"Something wrong, Ashley?" the ever observant Arthur questioned, slowing his pace to match Ashley's steps.
Ashley nodded and pointed down to the newly acquired Pokémon tugging at his pant leg. The wee growlithe seemed to be opposed to a Pokéball, and Ashley just didn't have the heart to put him in one.
"How on earth am I going to explain this to Mum?" he complained. "I can't even hide the fact that I'm bringing a fire type into her gym."
"It could be worse," Arthur offered with a shrug. "At least it's not a bug Pokémon."
Ashley acquiesced to Arthur's point, and began to pick up his pace, approaching his home with a little more enthusiasm than before.
As the foursome got closer to the gym, they noted a small crowd being ushered out by a pink haired woman. The crowd looked disheartened as they bowed their heads and went on their way.
"I wonder what your aunt is doing here?" Sapphire asked curiously, turning her head in Ashley's direction as she spoke. "I guess she's comforting them after another embarrassing defeat from your mother," she joked knowing full well how tough Misty could be on the wanna-be trainers.
Ash groaned painfully, his whole demeanour darkening. "If she's here," he sighed, "then the triplets can't be far behind."
Arthur sighed happily in a way that would remind anyone that knew better of his father in his younger days before he settled down to the one woman man he always professed to be. "Daphne . . . Azalea . . . Wisteria . . ." he said with a dreamy expression, his face burning brightly. "My poisonous trio of flowers. Both deadly and beautiful . . ."
"Snap out of it, lover boy" Sapphire commanded, whacking her brother none to gently on the side of the head. "You haven't even seen them and you're already going all goofy."
After waving off the trainers, Lily – Ashley's youngest aunt – turned in their direction, racing towards them as she spotted her young nephew.
"Ashley, thank god you're here," she said quickly, pulling the twelve year old into an unexpected hug. "You're mum just isn't taking the news like at all," she explained. "She totally hasn't left her room since she heard."
"Heard what?" Ashley questioned, his features creasing into a frown. "What news, Aunt Lily?"
"You don't know?" his aunt replied, her eyes shining with sympathy. She held him even tighter, which immediately aroused worry in Ashley and his friends.
"Aunt Lily, what is it?" he demanded. "What's wrong with Mum?"
"Oh, Ashy," she said softly, sinking down to her knees in front of him, "I wish I wasn't the one who like had to tell you this. There's been an accident on Cinnabar Island – the Volcano totally erupted."
Ashley nodded silently, not seeing the relevance of her words.
"Ashley, your dad was at like a conference at the time," she explained almost reluctantly, her words slow and heavy with emotion. "He was on Cinnabar, Ashy. He's dead."
"No, you're lying," Ashley insisted petulantly, his eyes filling up with tears. "Stop lying."
"I wish I like was," she replied, her body slumping in defeat. "I'm so sorry."
"No," Ashley argued. "I'll go see Mum. She'll prove that you're lying."
"Ashley!" she called as the boy raced off in the direction of the gym, not giving a thought to those that remained.
"Chibi, I think you should go call your dad," Arthur said seriously, his eyes trained on the door of the Cerulean Gym.
"Why?" Myst replied, not seeing why Arthur was suddenly so insistent about contacting her dad when her newest friend had just lost his.
"Didn't you say your dad was going to a conference on an island," Arthur replied, his tone becoming grim.
Myst gulped back a gasp, but shook her head as she responded. "It's fine," she said, trying to assure both herself and Arthur. "If it wasn't then the whole world would know."
"All the same . . ." Arthur suggested pensively, not wanting to articulate the thought aloud.
She nodded quietly.
"I'll go make sure Ashley's alright," Arthur said, taking charge of the situation. "Saph, you go with Myst to the Pokémon Centre and call dad when you get there. If he doesn't already know, then he needs to.
"I'm sure you're right," he added, putting a comforting hand on Myst shoulder, "but for peace of mind's sake it won't hurt to call."
He moved off, gently leading Lily back into the gym and only looking back to send Myst back a reassuring wink.
Sapphire watched the exchange with great interest. She supposed there were worse people for Myst than her own brother, although she wouldn't exactly be jumping for joy if it happened. For now there were more pressing matters to occupy them, and the sooner they were on their way, the sooner they would all know.
She didn't think she could take anymore bad news today.
Misty's own words repeated in her head again and again, antagonizing her and ripping open the wounds of old.
'Anyone but Ash,' she had said, meaning it more than she had ever meant anything in her life, 'anyone but him.'
It wasn't a choice; it was merely plea. She hadn't meant to bargain with the life of another to ease her heart. She hadn't meant to sacrifice one life for another.
And the worst part was, her heart wouldn't let her take it back. It had made its choice. It would rather lose a husband than be in a world without Ash Ketchum.
It wasn't grief that fuelled her tears, although that was a part of it. Nor was it the loss of her husband that had her shutting herself away from the world. It was guilt. Guilt because she didn't feel as sad as she should about Stephen's death. Guilt because it was hard to feel this pain past the happiness and relief of knowing that Ash was unharmed and unscathed.
She didn't cry for Stephen, but rather for herself. Her heart was heavy with feelings of regret and the occasional 'what if . . . ?' She tried not to think about what she would have done if Ash really had died, the pain too much to bear with, and instead force herself to focus on her husband and not her ex-friend.
She needed to get away from this place. There were too many reminders. There was too much around her just burdening her heart. Too much to forget.
She heard a tentative knock on her bedroom door, but did not answer. Instead she turned her back on the door and curled herself into a ball beneath the warm blankets. She knew by the sound of the gait as they walked in that it was Ashley and she knew that he needed her, but she couldn't bring herself to share in his grief.
"Mum?" he asked in a small voice, his sadness seeming to fill the room and suffocate her with the fact that she could not muster even a fraction of his feelings. She just curled deeper into her ball, not really knowing what to do with herself, let alone how to help her son through this.
"Mum," he said again, a sob escaping his lips. "Lily said . . . but she's lying . . . isn't she?"
Misty offered words of condolence but simply shrunk further into her dismal little world.
She heard Lily's voice a moment later and her older sister led him away. And Misty was left alone to her thoughts.
"Not Ash," she taunted cruelly, her voice barely a whisper in the silent room.
"Anyone but Ash."
Myst bit her lip as she stood before the video screen. She tried to reassure herself, reminding herself of the words she had spoken to Arthur. If something had happened to her dad, there would be no way to avoid it. It would be on every news station and everyone would be talking about it. But all the same . . .
"Hello," a voice answered on the other end.
"Nana," Myst replied quietly, her voice almost breaking with emotions. "Nana, is dad there?" she asked.
"Honey, what's wrong?" Delia asked softly, immediately sensing the turmoil in her young granddaughter.
"I just . . . I just wanted to t-talk to dad," she replied. She was almost in tears as she spoke; a fear lodging itself in her heart. She had tried him at home and there had been no answer, and if he wasn't at her grandma's house, then Myst wasn't really sure where else to look.
"He just left here, Myst," Delia told her, "I think he's heading straight home if you need to talk to him."
Relief immediately washed over her, and Myst let it all out in one shuddered breath.
"Mystique, is everything alright?" Delia questioned in a concerned tone. "Where are you?"
"I'm okay," Myst replied, although her watery smile was unconvincing. "Can you get dad to call me? I'll be at the Cerulean gym. Something bad happened, and I just wanted to make sure he was . . ."
"I will, honey," Delia promised. "Don't worry. Everything is okay."
Myst just nodded shakily as she bid her grandmother farewell.
"You alright, Myst?" Sapphire asked as she wrapped her arms around her best friend. Myst nodded silently as tears streamed down her face and fell into her friend's arms.
"I just don't know what I'd do if he . . ." Myst sobbed quietly. "He's all I've got, and I . . ."
"Shhh," Sapphire comforted softly. "You don't have to think about that, and I wish Arthur hadn't put the thought in your head," she added in a scolding tone that was clearly meant for her brother.
"No . . . it's-"
Sapphire cut her off before she could finish. "Come on," she suggested as she led her friend away. "We'll go back to the gym. Mum said dad is already on his way, and I bet he brings comfort food."
And so the two girls were on their way, neither knowing the chain of events they had just brought to fruition.
~ to be continued ~
This is kinda a bipolar chapter. It starts all light and then ends with a dark and angsty foreshadowing. Odd.
Hope you liked, and thanks everyone for being so patient.
