Chapter 26

"The war is getting worse. They say we can be deployed any minute now." a lieutenant says as the group eats dinner.

"Sign me up first when it happens." Ash mumbles.

"Whoa! You ready to be a hero, Captain?" someone else says.

Ash shrugs. "I'm ready to leave here."

"Oh yeah. You have been here for over a year now." the lieutenant reminds them.

"War is scary, Ketchum. It's nothing like it is here." a fellow captain tells the nonchalant Ash.

"I'm not scared of dying." is all the raven haired man says.

The other captain laughs as he claps Ash on the back. "I like that courage, young blood!"

Ever since Ash ran into Misty, his mind has been clouded while his heart has ached more. He threw away Rudy's card after realizing Misty is back with her ex. But why does he care? He broke up with her. And it's better this way since he might not return from war.

Shaking his head, he decides to head out for a nice jog. Goldenrod City is a large city. What are the chances he runs into one of his old friends again? He'll even avoid the areas around where he saw them. Ash Ketchum needs a break. Being in the army base just makes him wallow in his pitiful thoughts, and he hates it.

Unfortunately for him, as he runs down a sidewalk deep in thought, he collides with someone running out of an apartment lobby. The tall man almost trips over the person, but he manages to catch himself as he looks down at the little girl and the woman checking on her. Ash groans as he instantly recognizes the long brown hair. He gets ready to just rudely run away when he hears the little girl say, "I'm okay, mommy."

"Mommy?" Ash asks, which causes both of them to look up at him. Leaf's eyes seem to go wide with shock while the little girl glares at him.

"You're supposed to say sorry when you hit someone!" she crosses her arms and Ash can't help but chuckle as she looks like a little Leaf.

He bends down to her eye level and says, "I'm sorry. I'll be more careful." Even though it was her who came running out of nowhere, he's amused by her. He extends a hand to the girl, but she looks to the quiet Leaf for permission.

Ash now changes his hand towards Leaf where he gives her a genuine smile. "I'm sorry, miss."

Surprisingly, she takes his hand and then helps her daughter up. "Thank you. We will also be more careful. Ava, you need to apologize for running in front of him."

"But mommy!"

"Ava!" Leaf's snappy tone even sends shivers down Ash's back as he remembers the times she would use it on him.

He gives the little girl a sympathetic look as she says, "Sorry, mister."

"It's okay." Ash grins.

He then turns around to start running again, but this time, Leaf stops him. "We were going out for ice cream. Did you want to come?"

Does he want to go? Didn't she just tell him a year ago that she doesn't want to see him anymore? Ash sighs as he still has his back to them. Screw it. He's already run into her, and he may go to war soon. He might as well talk to her one last time to alleviate his conscience. Ash turns to give them a warm smile. "Sure."

"What's your name, mister?" the little brunette asks Ash while he eats his ice cream. This makes the man chuckle. She's so straight to the point and reminds him so much of Leaf.

"Ash."

"You're very strong, Mr. Ash."

"Thank you, Ava. You're very strong too." Ash smiles at her. They had walked to the nearby ice cream shop without Ash saying much. Just a little bit of small talk between him and Leaf, but Ava did most of the talking, like she is now.

The little girl grins as she flexes her little arms in front of Ash. Since it is late summer, she's wearing a dress while Ash is in a t-shirt and shorts. "Look at my muscles!" she exclaims.

Ash touches her arm with a surprised look. "Whoa! Your muscles are big!" This makes Ava giggle and Leaf smiles.

She's always known Ash to be good with kids, but it seems like he won't be having any since he's so involved with the army. "I thought you were only stationed here a year?" She asks him as Ava resumes eating her ice cream.

Ash sheepishly smiles at the woman while rubbing the back of his neck. "I'm stuck here until the war is over or I get deployed. Whichever happens first." Deployed? Without realizing it, Leaf gives him a sad look that makes him avoid her gaze.

"What does deployed mean?" Ava's question brings both adults' attention to the confused little girl as she looks between them.

"Uh. It means I leave." Ash hesitantly says.

Ava frowns. "What if I don't want you to leave, Mr. Ash?" She gives him her puppy dog eyes, and Ash ruffles her hair, much to her dismay. Seeing her pout at this makes him laugh since he's reminded of when Leaf would pout at Gary for doing this. Gary. The name irks him. "Mommy is happy with you! Can you be my daddy?"

The question shocks the adults again as Leaf quickly hisses, "Ava!"

"Where's her dad?" Ash asks the woman. He thought Leaf was with someone when he saw Ava call her mommy. But it seems like Ava doesn't have a father, and now Ash notices there is no ring on Leaf's left ring finger.

"Sorry, Ash. We're gonna go." Leaf says as she stands up to grab Ava's arm, but the little girl clings onto Ash's arm.

"No! I want a daddy!" she cries, which results in the unwanted attention of those around them.

"Ava Janet Green." Leaf's intense look at her daughter only brings more tears to the little girl, but Ash opens his eyes widely at the woman.

"Janet." he gasps suspiciously. Ava looks up at him after hearing him say her middle name, and the moment he sees those dark viridian eyes he recognizes from childhood, he narrows his eyes at Leaf.

"Ash, don't." The woman pleads, but Ash just removes Ava's hards from his arms while returning his gaze to the little girl.

"Listen to your mom, okay?" He gives her a smile before ruffling her hair and leaving.

Once outside, he runs. He doesn't know where, but he knows he just needs to get away. A few tears flow down his cheeks, which makes him glad he's sweating enough to hide them. So that's why Leaf must've ran away? She got pregnant. That's why Gary fucking quit being friends with them! Because they had sex! Ash's best friends since childhood had sex together, and it ruined everything!

Before he realizes where he is, he screams loudly and painfully into the night while falling to his knees on the sidewalk where he weeps uncontrollably. All the loneliness he's been feeling since his dad left, since his friends left, since he left Misty, the emotions just crash into him. What did he do to deserve this? He's always been trying to be the good kid, the good friend, the good man, but he always suffers from others' mistakes.

A pair of warm slender arms wrap around him as he cowers on the ground, which just makes Ash cry more. Whoever this stranger is, he appreciates them. The man's arms wrap around the person while he cries deeply into their shoulder. Feeling the breasts against his chest makes him realize this is a woman.

Eventually, she says, "Let's go inside, Ash." And that voice shocks him from his sorrowful thoughts as he quickly separates from her.

He rubs his puffy eyes to make sure he isn't hallucinating, but she's still there when he removes his hands. This time, though, she is standing up with a hand extended towards him, which he is surprised he takes. He follows her into her apartment silently where she gives him a cup of water while they sit on the living room couch.

Ash's gaze is on the ground as he sniffles. Misty just sits silently beside him. She had been home when a loud scream got her attention, and knowing self defense, she went outside to help. However, what she didn't expect to see was her broken down ex-boyfriend crying while people looked on in confusion. According to her meeting with Leaf a few months ago ago, Ash should've been gone by now.

Although she is with Rudy now, she can't just leave someone outside crying like that, even if it is her ex. Also, a part of her wants to know what made this normally goofy and carefree man scream like that. He looks okay since he wasn't limping when walking into the apartment, so it can't be an injury.

"Leaf and Gary fucked." His voice breaks her from her thoughts as she watches him put his head into his hands and his body shakes from his uncontrollable sobs. "They had sex, and that's why we're not friends anymore!"

Misty is shocked by what he's saying as well as the fact that he is here. She says, "What makes you say that?"

Those angry and hurt brown eyes face her as he says, "Leaf has a daughter."

"That doesn't mean the kid is Gary's."

He shakes his head. "She's 5...and she has his eyes…"

Misty sinks into her sofa while she recalls the day after senior prom when she picked up a crying Leaf from Gary's house early in the morning. While they never told Ash about Leaf's location the night of prom, Misty had her suspicions about what Leaf was doing at the Oak house. Doing the math, it makes sense, and if anyone can recognize Gary's eyes, it's Ash and Leaf.

Her phone vibrating breaks her from her thoughts as she pulls it out and sees it is Rudy calling. She silences the phone because right now is not the time. This broken man beside her needs her. Although they are exes, they were friends first, so she owes it to him.

"And her middle name is Gary's mom's name." Ash quietly says while putting his head back in his hands. "They fucking had sex, and it ruined everything. Why couldn't they have just dated, like us? We all could've still been together then!"

"I'm sure they had their reasons."

He shakes his head. "Selfish reasons. It broke us." He chuckles sadly. "It broke up the Quad Squad...and it broke us up, Misty." Just saying her name causes him to choke out more tears. Gosh, how he's missed her so much. How he's missed their friends and Pallet Town and everything.

"No, Ash." Misty's firm voice causes him to slow his sobs down. "You broke us up." She won't cry. Not now. He does not deserve her tears anymore, especially if he won't take responsibility for his own actions.

The man sadly grins in his hands. "You're right." He sighs. "They broke our friendship, but I broke us." As he finishes this sentence, his puffy brown eyes gaze into her glazed cerulean green ones. She purses her lips together, but can't seem to look away from those sorrowful chocolate brown eyes. "I'm so sorry, Mist." The moment his mouth cracks into a sad grin, Misty finds herself inching forward to capture those lips she's missed.

"I called, but you didn't pick up!" a voice comes from the front door, which makes both adults shoot back onto opposite sides of the sofa. Rudy walks in with a bouquet of roses and eyes them suspiciously. "What's going on, Misty?" He asks his girlfriend who is currently looking away to hide her blush.

Fortunately, Ash stands up and walks over to Rudy. "Uh. I fell outside and she helped me. We're old friends."

However, Rudy recognizes Ash as the runner from a few months ago. "Hey, aren't you that guy who we almost hit?" Instead of answering, Ash just slips past him and out of the door. Rudy returns his attention to his quiet girlfriend. "Misty, who was that?"

She sighs as she regains her composure to look at him. "Just an old friend...it's nothing though, Rudy. He happened to fall while I was outside, so I brought him in for water and we caught up for a bit. It was only like 15 minutes."

Still skeptical of his girlfriend, Rudy asks, "Why were his eyes so red?"

"He's a cry baby." She lies. "He hurt himself when he fell and wouldn't stop crying, which is why I decided to just bring him inside. I hope you don't mind?" Misty hopes her eyes don't give her away as she looks into his dark brown ones.

Luckily, Rudy drops the topic as he closes the door and hands her the bouquet of roses. "Well, I wanted to surprise you tonight since I got out of practice early." He says while kissing her.

Oh how Misty wished she had kissed Ash before. She quickly gets rid of the thought from her mind. She's with Rudy now, who loves her and treats her well. Anyone would be lucky to have him, especially since he's rich and famous, even though Misty doesn't care about that. Her guilt allows her to kiss her boyfriend back as they head into her bedroom.