DISCLAIMER: I don't own Pokémon.
A/N: Sorry I haven't updated for a while, I dunno why I haven't…not like I've been doing anything of significant importance. Well anyways, I am here now and a chapter is here now! Woohoo!
Chapter ten - The Phonecall.
"NO! GET THAT CRAP AWAY FROM ME!" I screamed, running from the bathroom to my room and slamming the door firmly to emphasise what I was yelling at my sister.
"Misty, don't be a baby" Violet shouted through the door.
"I'm not going near that make-up so put it away and let's go!" I ordered.
"Don't you wanna look your best for -" Violet cut herself off and spoke in more hushed tones. "For you-know-who?"
"He doesn't give a shit about make-up."
"Woah, fiesty" Violet laughed. "Fine, this isn't going anywhere. Come on out and we'll get going."
"Thank God" I muttered as I stepped out. We walked to the lounge and I got what I knew I was going to get from my mother. The disapproving raised eyebrow look.
"Is that the best you can do?" she criticized. "Not a smidgen of make-up on you, jeans…" She shook her head.
"Well Mom, I don't own any make-up and as much as you'd love me to get an eye infection from using theirs, I'd rather not. I can't use their foundation or concealer either, I don't have their stunning complexions" I said coldly.
Mom narrowed her eyes. "Do you want to go home?"
"Would change anything for me. I'd still be under the same roof as you, still being forced to do things I don't wanna do, still separated from As -"
"Don't mention that name!" Mom interrupted loudly. I grinned evilly. This could be a lot of fun.
"Aaaaaassss…" I dragged out the letters, Mom's face growing darker by the microsecond. "Aaaaaasssss..."
"Alright, we're going" Daisy announced, suddenly springing up from the couch. "See ya later, Mom." The four of us waited outside and as soon as the door closed, Daisy grabbed my shoulders forcefully, much like the other two had done earlier to my arms. "If I wasn't in my right mind at this moment I'd be slapping you black and blue. We are trying to make your life a little more pleasant with her around and all you can do is create more trouble!" she hissed. "It's your own stupid fault you're not in Mom's good books when you do stuff like that."
"Sorry" I muttered. "I can't stand her."
"We gathered" Lily rolled her eyes. "But talking to her like that won't help anyone or anything."
"Okay okay, let's go" I said. I couldn't hide the excited tones in my voice and the grin that involuntarily broke out when I started thinking about what Ash's face would be like when he opened the door. An idea suddenly sprung to mind and I giggled at the thought.
"Geez Mist, are you alright?" Lily asked in what sounded like genuine concern.
"She's in love" Violet supplied. "See, this is what happens when you start getting emotionally involved. It's safer and less scarier to just shag 'em and ship 'em off."
"Oh yeah, real safe, sleeping round with a billion different guys" I said sarcastically.
"You're one to talk, little Miss Free Love!" Violet snapped back.
"Okay guys, just calm down" Daisy pleaded. "We're all doing favors for each other and the last thing we need is for it to all turn to custard on the first night." As a result of this, the rest of the walk to our destinations was quiet, but I don't think any of us really minded. I was too excited to care anyways. I'd only seen him that morning but it had seemed the beginning of our ultimate separation, thanks to Mom.
"Okay Mist, here we are" Lily announced.
Violet grabbed my shoulders and eyed me severely. "Come home tonight. Have a good time. But for God's sake, please don't do anything stupid. We are doing this so you can have as good a time as us in your own way, but we don't wanna see you in more trouble."
"Thanks guys" I smiled. "Have a good night."
"You too" Lily said mischievously, winking and receiving a sharp nudge from Daisy for her troubles. I watched them walk away with a smile on my face, and then started thinking of how to put my earlier plan into action. It wasn't anything big, but it would make for more shock value when I saw Ash.
Walking round the back of his bach, I grinned in relief at the sight of an open window. It was low, easy climbing access, a dream situation for what I was about to do. I walked up to it and placed my palms flat down on the sill before hoisting myself up and through it, landing with a soft thud I prayed wouldn't echo through.
Uh oh. Looking around, I realized I was in Ash's room with no sense of direction. But this only worried me for a second before I felt a sense of almost coming home. Other people would call the condition of his room sordid, with clothes strewn everywhere and a suitcase still only half unpacked, yet I knew this as Ash himself. He hadn't changed a bit since I'd left him.
Wow, his room even smelt the same.
My non-sense of direction hit me again and I slowly tiptoed out of his room, walking down a hall that was similar to ours. Must have been a similar sort of layout. I could see the lounge and Ash occupying it a minute later, turned away from me as he watched the T.V.
Still on cautious tiptoe, I slowly crept up behind him and covered his eyes, feeling static strands of that coal hair brushing against my skin. His body jumped in surprise and he half-turned to face me, although he wouldn't have been able to actually see anything.
"What the hell…what's going on?" he asked. I couldn't deny that he sounded slightly scared, but I also couldn't blame him. If someone did this to me, I'd be most likely screaming at the prospect of it being a murderer.
"You're being abducted" I announced cheerily. Damn, I had forgotten to mask my voice. Oh well, Ash was still obviously shocked, because there was a long pause before he spoke his next words.
"M-Misty? Is that you?" I could only keep grinning like an idiot at his spellbound words, not wanting to speak for fear of breaking the moment. He spoke again, his words now sounding slightly frustrated. "Come on, who is this, stop playing around."
"Okay" I said simply. With that I slowly removed my hands and smiled into his wide eyes. "Hi Ash" I whispered.
"Misty? But what, why are you…how are you…?" Ash stumbled over his words before he took in a deep breath of air and continued with some sort of coherence. "I…um, what about your Mom, doesn't she, uh -"
"Oh God, don't get me started on her" I groaned, walking round the couch and flopping down beside him. "She's being a cow at the moment. Apparently she's here to make sure I never see 'that boy' again. But what she doesn't know won't hurt her, so here I am" I said happily, lightly pecking his cheek and cuddling up to him.
"I thought you'd be going home" Ash said, wrapping an arm around my shoulders.
"So did I. But I'm here until the end of summer, she said so herself" I explained. Ash nodded. He then cupped my face in his hands and eyed me with nothing but warmth and sincerity.
"I was so worried about you. I'm so sorry. I will never be able to say sorry enough, this was all my fault…" He trailed off and sighed. "I love you, and the last thing I want to see is you getting hurt or in trouble."
"But I'm not getting hurt. And it wasn't your fault. It was mutual, and I do not for a second regret it." I paused and eyed him carefully. "You don't regret last night, do you?" I asked cautiously. If he regretted the previous night, then yes, that would hurt me.
"No no, of course not" Ash said quickly. "Last night was amazing. I wouldn't have exchanged it for anything in the world." I was comforted by his words, and even more comforted when he bestowed a deep loving kiss on my lips, carrying me back to that world I had now become a part of whenever I was with him.
But I had to pull away when I remembered something I had to ask him. Mom had reminded me of it earlier and I now needed to bring it up with him. Ash looked at me in confusion and I took in a deep breath before I started.
"Ash, I love you. I trust you more than anyone in the world, which is a lot for me to say after what you did to me two years ago. But I do, I've regained that trust in you, so I need you to be completely honest with me when I ask you this question, okay?" I said seriously.
Ash nodded. "I'm always honest with you, Mist."
"Okay." I paused and considered my words. "Last night, I think with the nerves and the anticipation and everything that goes with that, we forgot something important. Very important."
Ash looked lost at my words. "Um…"
"Ash, we forgot to use protection" I blurted out. His eyes went wide and I shrugged. "However, we both shouldn't be worried if that was your first time. You know it was mine, so this is where I need you to be 100% truthful. Was last night your first time?"
"Um, yeah" Ash answered in a sort of daze.
"Okay then, we shouldn't have anything to worry about. We can't give each other STDs if we've never done it before. It's okay Ash, don't look so stunned" I laughed, trying to get him out of his shellshock. "I just had to ask. If I didn't, I'd never know if there was a chance of me catching something serious."
"Yeah yeah, I understand" Ash nodded. "God, that was so stupid! How the hell did we overlook it? It's only drilled into our heads every five seconds." He wasn't kidding. With AIDS now being considered an epidemic worldwide, it was an issue that never seemed to rest.
"Look, it's okay. Honestly. I'll probably still take a test to be sure, but it's okay" I said in reassurance.
"Well then that's something I do have to apologise for. I should've known or remembered or something. Oh Mist, I'll never stop kicking myself for that" Ash sighed.
"Why? I just said it's okay, no biggie, let it go. I just wanted the confirmation, I didn't want to get you in a panic over it" I smiled. "So calm down. Look forward."
"Forward to what?" Ash asked.
"Me coming to visit you every night for five weeks" I grinned.
"How does that work with your pissed off Mom?"
"Let's just say I'll be owing my sisters big time by the end of the summer" I said.
"Wow, I don't really remember them being that nice" Ash marveled.
"Neither do I" I laughed. "But we shouldn't wonder over it, we should just be grateful for it" I pointed out.
"Believe me Mist, I am" Ash said, and with that he initiated another kiss that was more prolonged than the one before it that had been interrupted by the thoughts in my head. This one was interrupted by the phone on Ash's right, and I pulled him back as he started to pull away.
"Leave it" I pleaded in a mumble.
"No can do, Mom's calling tonight" Ash informed me, and reached over to the phone. I smiled at the thought of Delia Ketchum, forever worried about her son. She'd probably have a heart attack if Ash didn't answer the phone, so I could understand why he wanted to take this call.
I leaned against his chest, closing my eyes in a happy daze before realizing that Ash wasn't really saying much. I opened my eyes to see his looking blankly ahead, and I also noticed that his whole body had gone tense since he'd picked up the phone. Sitting up to face him, he put the phone down and bit his lip before somewhat reluctantly meeting my eyes.
"Who was it?" I asked cautiously.
"It wasn't Mom, that's for sure" Ash mumbled. "That was, um…the League."
"Oh for God's sake, what do they want now? You're on vacation, tell them to leave you alone! How did they even get your number? They shouldn't be calling you unless it's important…" I trailed off at my words when I noticed Ash's sad gaze. "Ash? What's wrong?"
"I have to go back" Ash quietly announced.
"Go back?" I whispered, my throat slowly filling with emotional cement. "Why?" I managed to croak out.
Ash sighed and held me close, kissing the top of my head before breaking the news to me. "You know Lance, the dragon master?" he started. I nodded. Of course I knew Lance. He had visited our gym several times, and every pokémon trainer on earth looked up to him as both a human being and a trainer. "Today he…he was killed."
I couldn't keep in the gasp that had risen to my mouth and my eyes instantly filled with tears. Killed? Lance was dead? But he was too young to die! He had a wife, he had a seven-year old son, he was one of the world's best pokémon trainers, he wasn't supposed to die in the midst of all that!
"But…but how?" I sniffled.
"They didn't say much, something about a car crash. The whole League has shut down, but they need me to go back for the funeral and for a couple of meetings. They'll have to find a replacement since he was a part of the Elite" Ash explained. Oh man, the Elite Four would now have to change. The pokémon world would never be the same.
"Oh my God…Ash, that's…" I lost words and buried my head in his chest, crying silent tears. "I can't believe he's gone" I said in a muffled voice, trying to keep in my sobs.
"Neither can I" Ash said quietly. "They want me back by tomorrow. I'll have to get a morning flight. All the others are already there, I guess they're just waiting on me before they start anything."
"Then you have to go" I said unnecessarily. It was a no-win situation. Lance had prematurely been killed during the peak of his career, and now Ash was once again being ripped out of my arms, although that was really a paltry worry compared to what was now surrounding us.
Ash had now gone frightenly quiet, vacantly staring at the blackened sea that was only barely distinguishable from the darkening skyline. Lance had been like the father Ash had never had, teaching him skills as both a pokémon trainer and as a person, and always believing that Ash was the one who had the edge to become the ultimate Master. It was a shock that, I had the feeling, would never truly absorb for him.
Irony was a terrible thing. When we had just been dwelling on something so perfect, the prospect of being with each other every night for five weeks, something else had to come crashing around us. Something that was now shattering more than our plans. It was shattering lives, and the League itself, a whole community could now disintegrate. It was a scary thought, but the reality was, it had to be faced up to. Burying heads in sand never did anyone any good.
"I'll miss you so much, Misty" Ash finally spoke up, rubbing my arm and finally tearing his eyes away from the ocean to lock with my tear-filled ones.
"I'll miss you too. Washbay won't have any meaning now" I sighed. "But it's not your fault, and it's way more important than a summer vacation. So when you go, just keep your mind on it."
"But I don't want to" Ash muttered. "I want to put it away, ignore it. It just seems too out of reach to be real. I was talking to him only two nights ago. How do you expect me to keep my mind on it?" He was starting to sound slightly angry, but I'd heard that this is what came along with grief. All I could do was try and reassure him, or just keep him from getting in a worse state of mind.
"I suspect that you'll keep your mind on it no matter what. And that's horrible for me to say cos I know there are other things you or anyone else for that matter would much rather have their minds on, but the truth is this is gonna be a huge thing to deal with. The public are gonna be stunned, the media's gonna go wild, and that's the last thing anyone needs mingling with grief" I said calmly. "It makes you feel trapped, like there's nothing else you can think of or hear of or talk about. But you're strong, Ash. I know you are. And despite these terrible circumstances and what you're about to go through, I can promise you that you'll get through it." Now I was the one making the promises. I just hoped they were promises I could keep.
"I hope to God you mean that, Mist. Cos I've only known for five minutes, and already I've never felt this lost in my whole entire life. Not when Giselle died, not when I lost you, nothing else compares to this incredible…this overwhelming feeling of just being lost" Ash said quietly.
"I know, I know" I said soothingly, holding him close and kissing his cheeks and lips. "But no matter how long it takes, you'll get to the other side, and while it'll still hurt, it'll get easier."
Ash nodded and we both went silent, our eyes directed to the sea and its gentle waves that would usually soothe the most troubled mind. But nothing would soothe Ash's mind until all of this was over with. I knew that for a fact, and all I could do was bear out the rest of the summer, praying and dreaming of the day when I would see him again and we'd be able to put this behind us.
But until then we had to deal with it. And for starters, Ash had to leave earlier than expected. As this thought once again crossed my mind, I held him tighter, savoring his presence and letting loose more silent tears. For Lance, for Ash, for myself. For anyone who was feeling remotely similar to what I was at that moment in time.
A/N: Wowee! That was a random word to throw in there! And a random comment just for the books…in case you haven't read in my bio, there is a sequel to this fic! HURRAH! Thing is, I have no idea how it goes and I'm not even halfway through posting this one. So I guess we are planning in advance! Well I'm not, my co-author is (look Geo, I finally mentioned it! Haha) so yeah, letting you all know well ahead. Yay! I'm going to run now, but I'll be back soon with more chapters! Thankies so much for the reviews too!
