Ash yawned, gently shoving Misty/Duplica toward the bed. Gratefully she
flopped onto it; it had been so long since she could rest. As a soul, she
was unable to sleep -- in her temporary form, however, she could claim her
long-awaited nap... at least for now.
"I'm gonna go take a shower..." Ash murmured, averting his gaze from her
as he scratched the back of his head.
"I'll just take a little nap, I think..."
"'Kay. See ya in a few minutes."
Duplica watched through half-closed eyes as Ash staggered through the
dim warehouse, bouncing off crates now and again; stretching and yawning the
whole time. Eventually he reached a smaller complex built inside the
warehouse -- which presumably contained his office and shower. She waited
until he was out of sight before completely relaxing.
Letting her head sink into the pillow, Duplica furrowed her brow,
wondering how she could best answer the questions she knew Ash would pose to
her. Detail wasn't really necessary, was it?
No, she should just leave it at a short explanation. Leave the rest to
the kid's overactive imagination, perhaps. That would be best. She
wouldn't want him to remember her as she had been before she killed
herself... no, better for her to remain in his memories as the bright
teenage girl she had been. It would be best that way. Let him think of
her that way, instead.
It was too bad, though, that she had to die before she found out that
there was such a thing as "true love." Things might have been a lot
different if she had known... before...
When she woke up... well, if you wanted to call what happened to her
after she blew her brains out "waking up", it was there. It broke
free from the depths of her mind, where it had lain dormant, and it was the
only thing that she could think of for weeks. Echoing endlessly through her
tortured mind.
"Find your true love."
Had she been alive, she would have instantly dismissed it as being as
trite and cliche as the "B" movies she was acting in. True love, to that
Duplica, was just a faerie-tale trapping, something that happened to people
in stories. Like destiny, it was merely a contrivance of human fantasy --
something to amuse those unable to shape their own lives the way that they
wished. Now it was different. To this Duplica, the fact that true love did
exist was indisputable. True love, it seemed, was the only thing holding
her back from wherever she should have gone after she died.
At least that was what she had believed initially. Soon, though, she
gave up the denial. It was her that was holding herself back. Because of
her own selfishness, her true love now lived loveless, still oblivious to
how his or her life would have been changed for the better...
So her task was to find her true love, and make amends for what she had
done. It sounded so simple... until you realized that her true love could
be anyone, anywhere. With that perspective, it was hopeless. Even with an
infinite amount of time to spend searching for her love, it would be nearly
impossible. But then... she didn't have that time. No, she had at best a
few weeks before the vicious nature of a lost soul completely overtook her,
and she became merely a wandering manifestation of hate. Just the thought
of the whole damnable situation brought tears to her eyes. It was
completely hopeless, but Duplica'd damn well try to find her true love.
She couldn't stand the thought, not only of herself becoming a hellion,
but of her true love living a life unilluminated with even a trace of what
love there could have been.
Trying desperately to let all the bloody thoughts wash away from her
mind, Duplica gradually released her grip on consciousness. Drifting
asleep, her last thought was of her true love. She'd have no memory of him
when she awoke, but for that moment, she saw his face; saw the carefree,
happy go luck smile she had overlooked for so many years. Deep within
herself, she smiled at the sight of him, giggled a little that she'd never
noticed his abstract perfection.
Bitterly ironic, really. She died to learn she really had a true love,
and learned far too late that he had been literally standing in front of her
for the last decade.
Just as quickly as these realizations came to her, they slipped away.
Subconsciously Duplica clawed at the memories while they drifted from
her mind, but it was a futile effort. Gradually she forgot even what it was
she was struggling to remember; her body slipping into a deep dreamless
sleep.
It was in such a state that Ash found her a half-hour later. Dead
asleep, it seemed, but not the solemn death he would have imagined.
Instead, a tiny smile creased her lips, lending an aura of happiness to her
sleeping face. Nonetheless, they had much to discuss -- as much as he'd
like to, he couldn't let her sleep any longer. So it was reluctantly that
he shook her awake, a slightly regretful gaze that watched her fluttering
eyelids.
Ash was pleased to see that Duplica harbored no irritation about being
woken up -- in fact she seemed quite happy. Overly so, even. Bouncing up,
she smiled brightly at him, eyes sparkling mischievously. Hands in lap, she
prodded him earnestly.
"All cleaned up?!"
His response was less than enthusiastic -- solemn would have been far
more accurate.
"Yeah. You ready to talk?"
As a response, Duplica nodded a little overactively -- now this was the
Duplica he remembered. He couldn't help but smile -- and smiling seemed to
be encouraging her more.
"Would you mind telling me why you... uhhh..."
Almost ashamed, Duplica averted her gaze, her mouth pulled into a tight
little frown at the bottom of her face.
"... I had a couple of... bad relationships."
"Oh."
Ash's response seemed to echo through the embarassed silence that
followed. It was a good few minutes before either of them even blinked,
much less said anything.
"... you have any idea what you need 'fore you can go?"
"Yeah, I do..."
"... mmm..."
"I've got to find my true love. Make amends."
"I see. Have any idea who he is?"
"... no."
Wiping a tear from the corner of his eye, Ash cursed softly.
"This sucks. I'm sorry..."
"It's not your fault..."
"The way I see it, you're gonna hafta give back Misty her body tomorrow...
if there was some way you could stay here and try to find him... but then
you'd run out of time..."
"Shush, Ash Ketchum... you've done all you can for me. The rest is up to
Fate and blind luck."
Still whispering to himself, Ash shook his head, unwilling to accept
that he had no control over what happened.
"I promise I'll give Misty's body back tomorrow morning... I know how much
trouble you'd be in if I didn't."
"... this is so unfair..."
"Ash, life itself is unfair. But this isn't unfair. It was a choice that I
made. A stupid choice, an uneducated choice, but I made it. This is all my
doing..."
"But..."
"No, Ash, no 'buts.' I'll just have to grin and bear it. You know I've
always trusted you --"
"-- somewhat unwisely, may I add --"
"-- unwisely at times, perhaps, but I trust you nonetheless. Would you
stay with me tonight? You know I don't want anything else from you...
would you mind?"
Driving any perverted thoughts from his mind, Ash nodded.
"The least I could do for you."
Duplica stuck her tongue out at him, laughing a little in spite of the
solemnity of the situation.
"You'd better not have meant for that to sound as dirty as it did..."
Ash raised his eyebrows innocently and shook his head.
"Me?!? Dirty?!? How could you say something like that..."
He began rummaging through a crate, still pretending to be indignant
that she'd say that about him.
"You don't fool me, Ash Ketchum. You've changed a lot since you were a
little kid..."
"Not as much as you might think."
Shading his eyes with his free hand in an embarrassed gesture, Ash
tossed Duplica an extra-extra large tee shirt.
"That's about all I've got for you to wear, heheh..."
She caught it and giggled a little.
"Are you sure about that, Ash?"
His honesty was confirmed by the fact that his ears turned an
astonishing shade of red as he shook his head ashamedly. Duplica shook the
shirt at him as she stepped toward the shower, still giggling.
"Well, Ash Ketchum, I'm going to get cleaned up and put this on. And when I
come back, you'd better be ready... oh, and no peeking!"
Ash sighed forlornly, wondering where the hell she was getting this
from. Still shaking his head, he stumbled over toward a half-opened crate.
This was more than likely going to be a very long night. Searching inside a
moment, he produced a bottle of whiskey. With another sigh, he flung
himself into a nearby chair, propped his feet up on another crate, and set
to emptying the bottle.
Musing to himself about the day's events, he had downed a little over
half the whiskey -- and was feeling fine -- when he heard Duplica return.
She skipped over toward him, prodded his stomach a few times, giggled a
little, and swiped his bottle. Ash swung his arm in an attempt to reclaim
it, lost his balance -- tipping himself out of the chair and onto the floor.
As he dusted himself off, he watched amusedly as she sipped a little, then
coughed and spluttered until her mouth was clean again.
"Ughh!! This is nasty! How did you drink all of that?!?"
He responded in a humorous tone as he hauled himself back into the chair.
"I guess it's an acquired taste..."
"Hmph. I'm not going to acquire it, that's for sure."
"Suit yourself..."
Propping his feet up again, Ash yawned, barely paying attention when
Duplica scurried over to the light switch, her bare feet slapping against
the concrete floor. Scarcely did he notice when she flipped the lights
off. It was only when she called him from the bed that he acknowledged her
presence with a nod. After she began to yell at him, however, he rose from
the chair and staggered sleepily over toward her. Flopping down on the
blankets, Ash would have been more than content to just nap at the edge of
the bed, but Duplica wouldn't hear of it.
First adjusting the pillows in a comfortable fashion, she proceeded to
tug and pull at Ash's collar until he obliged her. Lying with his head
resting on her shoulder, his back to her chest, he appeared to be quite
comfortable. Either that or he was just too tired to really care how or
where he was sleeping.
Lying there, his warm body pressed comfortingly against her, Duplica
felt a totally unexpected surge of affection toward him. Although she first
chided herself for feeling that way toward someone who was merely an old
friend, she couldn't help it. But instead of guilt, she felt a sensation of
release washing over her -- as if she had felt loving towards him forever.
It wasn't true, of course, she couldn't have loved him for that long, but
just perhaps... wrapping her arms tightly around him, she rested her head
against his.
"I'm sorry... Ash..."
flopped onto it; it had been so long since she could rest. As a soul, she
was unable to sleep -- in her temporary form, however, she could claim her
long-awaited nap... at least for now.
"I'm gonna go take a shower..." Ash murmured, averting his gaze from her
as he scratched the back of his head.
"I'll just take a little nap, I think..."
"'Kay. See ya in a few minutes."
Duplica watched through half-closed eyes as Ash staggered through the
dim warehouse, bouncing off crates now and again; stretching and yawning the
whole time. Eventually he reached a smaller complex built inside the
warehouse -- which presumably contained his office and shower. She waited
until he was out of sight before completely relaxing.
Letting her head sink into the pillow, Duplica furrowed her brow,
wondering how she could best answer the questions she knew Ash would pose to
her. Detail wasn't really necessary, was it?
No, she should just leave it at a short explanation. Leave the rest to
the kid's overactive imagination, perhaps. That would be best. She
wouldn't want him to remember her as she had been before she killed
herself... no, better for her to remain in his memories as the bright
teenage girl she had been. It would be best that way. Let him think of
her that way, instead.
It was too bad, though, that she had to die before she found out that
there was such a thing as "true love." Things might have been a lot
different if she had known... before...
When she woke up... well, if you wanted to call what happened to her
after she blew her brains out "waking up", it was there. It broke
free from the depths of her mind, where it had lain dormant, and it was the
only thing that she could think of for weeks. Echoing endlessly through her
tortured mind.
"Find your true love."
Had she been alive, she would have instantly dismissed it as being as
trite and cliche as the "B" movies she was acting in. True love, to that
Duplica, was just a faerie-tale trapping, something that happened to people
in stories. Like destiny, it was merely a contrivance of human fantasy --
something to amuse those unable to shape their own lives the way that they
wished. Now it was different. To this Duplica, the fact that true love did
exist was indisputable. True love, it seemed, was the only thing holding
her back from wherever she should have gone after she died.
At least that was what she had believed initially. Soon, though, she
gave up the denial. It was her that was holding herself back. Because of
her own selfishness, her true love now lived loveless, still oblivious to
how his or her life would have been changed for the better...
So her task was to find her true love, and make amends for what she had
done. It sounded so simple... until you realized that her true love could
be anyone, anywhere. With that perspective, it was hopeless. Even with an
infinite amount of time to spend searching for her love, it would be nearly
impossible. But then... she didn't have that time. No, she had at best a
few weeks before the vicious nature of a lost soul completely overtook her,
and she became merely a wandering manifestation of hate. Just the thought
of the whole damnable situation brought tears to her eyes. It was
completely hopeless, but Duplica'd damn well try to find her true love.
She couldn't stand the thought, not only of herself becoming a hellion,
but of her true love living a life unilluminated with even a trace of what
love there could have been.
Trying desperately to let all the bloody thoughts wash away from her
mind, Duplica gradually released her grip on consciousness. Drifting
asleep, her last thought was of her true love. She'd have no memory of him
when she awoke, but for that moment, she saw his face; saw the carefree,
happy go luck smile she had overlooked for so many years. Deep within
herself, she smiled at the sight of him, giggled a little that she'd never
noticed his abstract perfection.
Bitterly ironic, really. She died to learn she really had a true love,
and learned far too late that he had been literally standing in front of her
for the last decade.
Just as quickly as these realizations came to her, they slipped away.
Subconsciously Duplica clawed at the memories while they drifted from
her mind, but it was a futile effort. Gradually she forgot even what it was
she was struggling to remember; her body slipping into a deep dreamless
sleep.
It was in such a state that Ash found her a half-hour later. Dead
asleep, it seemed, but not the solemn death he would have imagined.
Instead, a tiny smile creased her lips, lending an aura of happiness to her
sleeping face. Nonetheless, they had much to discuss -- as much as he'd
like to, he couldn't let her sleep any longer. So it was reluctantly that
he shook her awake, a slightly regretful gaze that watched her fluttering
eyelids.
Ash was pleased to see that Duplica harbored no irritation about being
woken up -- in fact she seemed quite happy. Overly so, even. Bouncing up,
she smiled brightly at him, eyes sparkling mischievously. Hands in lap, she
prodded him earnestly.
"All cleaned up?!"
His response was less than enthusiastic -- solemn would have been far
more accurate.
"Yeah. You ready to talk?"
As a response, Duplica nodded a little overactively -- now this was the
Duplica he remembered. He couldn't help but smile -- and smiling seemed to
be encouraging her more.
"Would you mind telling me why you... uhhh..."
Almost ashamed, Duplica averted her gaze, her mouth pulled into a tight
little frown at the bottom of her face.
"... I had a couple of... bad relationships."
"Oh."
Ash's response seemed to echo through the embarassed silence that
followed. It was a good few minutes before either of them even blinked,
much less said anything.
"... you have any idea what you need 'fore you can go?"
"Yeah, I do..."
"... mmm..."
"I've got to find my true love. Make amends."
"I see. Have any idea who he is?"
"... no."
Wiping a tear from the corner of his eye, Ash cursed softly.
"This sucks. I'm sorry..."
"It's not your fault..."
"The way I see it, you're gonna hafta give back Misty her body tomorrow...
if there was some way you could stay here and try to find him... but then
you'd run out of time..."
"Shush, Ash Ketchum... you've done all you can for me. The rest is up to
Fate and blind luck."
Still whispering to himself, Ash shook his head, unwilling to accept
that he had no control over what happened.
"I promise I'll give Misty's body back tomorrow morning... I know how much
trouble you'd be in if I didn't."
"... this is so unfair..."
"Ash, life itself is unfair. But this isn't unfair. It was a choice that I
made. A stupid choice, an uneducated choice, but I made it. This is all my
doing..."
"But..."
"No, Ash, no 'buts.' I'll just have to grin and bear it. You know I've
always trusted you --"
"-- somewhat unwisely, may I add --"
"-- unwisely at times, perhaps, but I trust you nonetheless. Would you
stay with me tonight? You know I don't want anything else from you...
would you mind?"
Driving any perverted thoughts from his mind, Ash nodded.
"The least I could do for you."
Duplica stuck her tongue out at him, laughing a little in spite of the
solemnity of the situation.
"You'd better not have meant for that to sound as dirty as it did..."
Ash raised his eyebrows innocently and shook his head.
"Me?!? Dirty?!? How could you say something like that..."
He began rummaging through a crate, still pretending to be indignant
that she'd say that about him.
"You don't fool me, Ash Ketchum. You've changed a lot since you were a
little kid..."
"Not as much as you might think."
Shading his eyes with his free hand in an embarrassed gesture, Ash
tossed Duplica an extra-extra large tee shirt.
"That's about all I've got for you to wear, heheh..."
She caught it and giggled a little.
"Are you sure about that, Ash?"
His honesty was confirmed by the fact that his ears turned an
astonishing shade of red as he shook his head ashamedly. Duplica shook the
shirt at him as she stepped toward the shower, still giggling.
"Well, Ash Ketchum, I'm going to get cleaned up and put this on. And when I
come back, you'd better be ready... oh, and no peeking!"
Ash sighed forlornly, wondering where the hell she was getting this
from. Still shaking his head, he stumbled over toward a half-opened crate.
This was more than likely going to be a very long night. Searching inside a
moment, he produced a bottle of whiskey. With another sigh, he flung
himself into a nearby chair, propped his feet up on another crate, and set
to emptying the bottle.
Musing to himself about the day's events, he had downed a little over
half the whiskey -- and was feeling fine -- when he heard Duplica return.
She skipped over toward him, prodded his stomach a few times, giggled a
little, and swiped his bottle. Ash swung his arm in an attempt to reclaim
it, lost his balance -- tipping himself out of the chair and onto the floor.
As he dusted himself off, he watched amusedly as she sipped a little, then
coughed and spluttered until her mouth was clean again.
"Ughh!! This is nasty! How did you drink all of that?!?"
He responded in a humorous tone as he hauled himself back into the chair.
"I guess it's an acquired taste..."
"Hmph. I'm not going to acquire it, that's for sure."
"Suit yourself..."
Propping his feet up again, Ash yawned, barely paying attention when
Duplica scurried over to the light switch, her bare feet slapping against
the concrete floor. Scarcely did he notice when she flipped the lights
off. It was only when she called him from the bed that he acknowledged her
presence with a nod. After she began to yell at him, however, he rose from
the chair and staggered sleepily over toward her. Flopping down on the
blankets, Ash would have been more than content to just nap at the edge of
the bed, but Duplica wouldn't hear of it.
First adjusting the pillows in a comfortable fashion, she proceeded to
tug and pull at Ash's collar until he obliged her. Lying with his head
resting on her shoulder, his back to her chest, he appeared to be quite
comfortable. Either that or he was just too tired to really care how or
where he was sleeping.
Lying there, his warm body pressed comfortingly against her, Duplica
felt a totally unexpected surge of affection toward him. Although she first
chided herself for feeling that way toward someone who was merely an old
friend, she couldn't help it. But instead of guilt, she felt a sensation of
release washing over her -- as if she had felt loving towards him forever.
It wasn't true, of course, she couldn't have loved him for that long, but
just perhaps... wrapping her arms tightly around him, she rested her head
against his.
"I'm sorry... Ash..."
