"After all, I'm just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking him to love her" – Anna Scott Notting Hill
Disclaimer – Let's see, I don't own the characters, I don't own the plot and no matter how much I want to I don't own Westlife. Yeah, you'll understand that last one soon.
Valentines Verse : Lost Lyrics
Part VI – The Answer Is Written In Your HeartMisty cautiously opened her cerulean blue eyes only to be met by the bright Cerulean sunshine that poured senselessly through her window.
She closed her eyes again and curled into her warm comforter and tried to find her way back to a dream she barely remembered.
It had to have been the strangest dream she had ever had, that much was for sure. It was kind of like Charles Dickens 'A Christmas Carol' minus Tiny Tim and the famous "God bless us, every one" line you come to expect of it.
"I'm never having left over pizza before I go to bed again," she muttered to herself as she finally resolved to get up.
It was futile to try and get back to her dream world or even to try and create a new one, her mind was already too awake despite the many fantasy situations she could cook up in her mind most, if not all of them involving a certain dark haired, dark eyed Pokemon trainer in the room next door.
'But there's nothing like the real thing,' Misty thought almost mischievously as she crept out of her room and quietly towards Ash's.
She smiled to herself at the thought of seeing the sleeping Ash she was planning to wake, he looked so innocent when he was fast asleep it made her heart just want to burst with devotion. And then she thought about how dazed and cute he looked when he had just woken up, which immediately made her legs turn to jelly, which just happened to be a normal response for her. And then she thought about the way his face would light up when he saw her and a blush began to form on her pale cheeks.
She carefully pushed the door open being careful not to wake anyone, especially not Pikachu who was rather cranky when woken up from it's slumber.
Her eyes widened with shock as she saw the empty bed. She began to panic as she searched the room for her best friend who was nowhere to be found. Ash was known for playing pranks now and then, but she didn't think this was his style of pranking, or the style of anyone else she knew for that matter.
"Ash this isn't funny," she said worriedly just waiting for him to pop up and say 'Gotcha Myst' and smile at her with that cute little smile of his where he cocked his head ever so slightly to the side. He never did and this only made her more worried than she already was.
She decided to risk waking the little yellow mouse despite the shock she was sure to receive when she did. She was so worried about Ash that the pain would be worth it just to know that he was ok. It was at least reassuring to see that Pikachu and the rest of his stuff were still there.
"Pikachu," she called softly nudging the electric rodent lightly.
If she wasn't so damn worried about Ash she wouldn't have risked it or would have at least gone down to the kitchen to grab a pair of rubber gloves first, but love makes you do strange things. It messes with your mind and seems to defy the laws of common sense, or at least make you forget all about them for the time being.
Too bad she hadn't had the rubber gloves.
"Pikachuuu!" he screamed waking from a rather nice dream about ketchup.
"Good morning pikachu," Misty breathed as she twitched unnaturally before falling to the ground.
"Pika," he replied embarrassedly blushing slightly. "Pika, chu, pikachupi pika chu pik? Chu chu pikapi?" he asked. ((What are you doing here Misty? Spying on Ash?))
It was now Misty's turn to blush and the electric rodent smiled in response. "I was going to wake him up, but he's not here," Misty replied.
"Pi," Pikachu said finally realising that his master was nowhere to be found. He shrugged his shoulders as if to say I don't know before curling back into his sleeping position.
"Some friend you are," she muttered as she pulled her fingers through her slightly singed hair. "This better not give me split ends."
She decided to go downstairs and find something to take her mind off Ash, not an easy task I might add seeing as it was constantly there.
First she tried watching some TV, but the only worthwhile thing on was last years Indigo semi-finals. Like that was going to help, Ash had been a part of last years Indigo semi-finals. She needed a new plan.
She then tried to catch up on the gossip and try out some light reading with a few of her sister's magazines. The magazine opened at a page on up and rising Pokemon league stars. Again her efforts were quite futile.
So she decided to try listening to some music that was usually pretty good at turning her mind away. Without bothering to check she turned on the CD player and pressed play. After a few seconds came the room was filled with a silky male voice backed up by several other silky male voices all singing to the same silky love ballad.
" . . . I'm too shy to ask, I'm too proud to loose, but sooner or later I got to choose. And once again I'm thinking about, taking the easy way out . . ."
Westlife, Greatest Hits, (A/N: only the greatest album ever) a rather well deserved Christmas present from herself which she almost regretted right now. Like perfectly harmonised love ballads were going to take her mind off Ash.
For obvious reasons, that one didn't work as well as she thought it would.
'Just great,' Misty thought to herself. 'A song about a guy who's in love with a girl but too scared to lose what he has so now he has to choose whether it's worth it. How ironic?'
So in the end Misty settled on cooking, something that though closely related to Ash, required far too much of her concentration to let it stray, something she would be eternally grateful for.
"Hey Misty, you're up early," Lilly said as she entered the kitchen to find Misty cooking breakfast for all of them something that was very rarely seen in the Waterflower residence especially with her away so often.
"I guess I had a weird dream and couldn't get back to sleep," Misty shrugged not taking her eyes off the smouldering batter. "I thought I'd be nice and make my sisters breakfast."
"I like told you and Ash not to like eat that pizza, but no you just like wouldn't listen now would you?" Lilly scolded teasingly feeling the regular sense of pride that any of them would get from being right.
Misty sighed and rolled her eyes. "Speaking of Ash," she said almost shyly, "you wouldn't happen to know where he is, would you? When I checked his room it was empty apart from Pikachu and his things."
"Like really Misty," Lilly said her voice full of disappointment and shock, "do you like expect me to keep tabs on your boyfriend? How on earth are you like going to get anywhere when you keep like losing him?" Lilly giggled to herself as her little sister began to turn red with anger, or maybe it was embarrassment, either way she won.
"He's not my boy . . ." she was cut short suddenly by a question out of nowhere that she just had to ask. "Where did I go to school?" she asked curiously unsure of why she had the sudden urge to ask such a question.
"Um . . . well," Lilly started confused by Misty's sudden mood swing. "As far as I remember you stayed with aunt Sophia and went to school wherever she was before dad got really sick and you had to come back. I don't remember where she was living at the time though," Lilly replied thoughtfully.
"Where who was living?" Violet asked stretching as she entered the kitchen. "Breakfast smells good Misty. Is that just for you and Ash or the rest of us too?"
Misty scowled at her sister who backed away seeing how dangerously she was holding the spatula.
"Aunt Sophia," Lilly replied answering her sister's question. "Remember when Misty was staying with her."
"Oh that's easy," Daisy said suddenly entering the kitchen and conversation with complete ease. "She was living in Pallet Town."
"I bet you even like went to the same school as Ash," Violet mused teasingly. "You could have even been in the same class, I mean like considering how the years systems work."
"And I bet she was probably just as in love with him then as she is now," Daisy giggled more to her other sisters than Misty who seemed to be lost in her own little world of thought.
"Misty," Violet asked in a sing song voice as she waved her hand in front of her face. "Misty something's like burning," she said.
"Huh," Misty said coming out of her trance and sniffing the air. "My pancakes!"
It took only a few hours to get back to Cerulean thanks to his new zest of energy which allowed him to run all the way there in almost half the time. By the time he was got to the 'Welcome to Cerulean City' sign it was almost eleven.
He was making his way past a jewellery store near the city centre when he suddenly realised that he hadn't gotten Misty a present. Misty was a hopeless romantic and no matter what today's outcome may be, whether it be friends or lovers, Misty expected a present especially on today of all days.
He stopped for a moment to check out the window display and something there immediately caught his eye. It was perfect and he knew he had to get it.
He rushed in and bought it before continuing to the Cerulean City Gym where Misty resided.
Ash knocked on the door panting heavily as he tired to catch his breath after all the running and walking and moving in general that he'd done in the last nine hours alone. All he wanted to do was lay down and not move for a while but he still had one more place he had to go to, one more thing he had to say before he collapsed.
"Ash!" Daisy exclaimed as she opened the door. "Misty has been looking like everywhere for you. Are you okay?" she asked inspecting him carefully.
"Could you get Misty for me?" he asked in between breathing in general.
Daisy nodded watching him suspiciously as she went to go get Misty. She was sure Ash had a hefty explanation for the fact that he looked like he had spent the night in the bush and she would just have to get it out of Misty later.
Misty came downstairs a few seconds later already dressed for tonight's main event in a scarlet dress that accented her red hair. She looked perfect and it made Ash lose his breath all over again. His eyes moved up to her face where she held an expression both worried and confused as she too studied Ash incredously.
He was in regular attire, faded blue jeans, black t-shirt, which Misty gladly appreciated as it clung in all the right place, with a jacket over top. The hat had been long since forgotten when he gave it to a little kid one day who he said had reminded him of himself.
It wasn't the clothes exactly that worried her, it was the more the fact that they looked awfully dishevelled and somehow seemed messier than usual. Not to mention that the twigs and dirt here and there did seem awfully suspicious.
Ash smiled at her, setting her heart on fire as he silently led her to a part of Cerulean that nobody, not even Cerulean natives like Misty knew about. It was a part of Cerulean that he had found in his dreams.
Misty continued to study him as she finally worked up the courage to ask the question that seemed to be plaguing her mind. "Why did you bring me here?" she asked eying him for a reaction. "I mean it's beautiful and all, it really is, but why?"
The place truly was beautiful from the light snow covered field to the struggling daisies and larkspur fighting against winters chill simply to decorate these already beautiful surroundings.
She rested on an empty tree stump as she watched Ash pace nervously in front of her. She suppressed a giggle for his sake.
"I need to tell you something," he told her after working up enough courage just to say that much.
"Is it about where you were this morning?" she asked giving him the opening he needed.
"In a way," he told her quietly.
"Then where did you go?" she asked her eyes full of sincere curiousity.
He pointed towards a small river winding through the Viridian forest a few miles or so away leading to a secluded waterfall and lake, which belonged to them.
"Well that explains a few things," she joked.
He smiled. "Someone once told me to follow my heart, to take a walk and see where it leads me. That's where it led me."
Misty urged him to continue still wondering where he was going with all this.
He let out a deep nervous breath as he finally stopped his pacing and turned to face her. "I wish someone had told me how hard this was going to be," he sighed more to himself than Misty as he let out a nervous laugh.
He closed his eyes preparing himself, prepping himself for all the things he longed to say to her right now. "Misty, sometimes I look at you and I forget how to speak," he said speaking the first things that came to his mind. "I have all these clever and romantic things that I want to say to you, and then you look at me and I simply forget them all, it's like you stupefy me with a single glance.
"And sometimes," he continued building up her suspense, "all you have to do is breathe my name and I'm on top of the world. There are times when I'm so down that I think I'll never be able to get back on my feet again, but then you smile at me, or you just say something, anything and I feel like I could fly.
"I look at you and I can feel my heart pumping rapidly in my chest," he told her putting his hand to his heart. "It's so loud I wonder why you don't hear against the silence and chatter.
"You were always there for me Misty, and you've always been the most important person in my life," he told her truthfully. "It just took me a while to figure out what all that meant."
"And what does that mean?" she asked struggling to find her voice as she tried her best to remain even semi-calm.
'Just breath, just breathe' she told herself trying to remain calm as she could crossing her fingers for good luck and whispering a little prayer of hope.
"It means I love you," he smiled at her. "That I'm in love with you and I always have been."
At that very moment Misty felt as though she was on top of the world. She felt like dancing around the streets of Cerulean singing his name and telling the world that Ash Ketchum was in love with her.
But first she had to tell him something, if only she could get her mouth to work.
'Speak!' she screamed at herself. 'Say something damn it or he's going to think you don't feel the same way about him.'
"I . . . I . . . I," she stuttered so over come by shock and happiness it was the only thing she could say just then.
"It's alright Misty I understand, we can . . ." he started but was cut off as Misty brushed her lips against his in mid sentence.
"I love you too Ash," she told him as she pulled and looked into his deep chocolate brown eyes.
"You don't know how happy I am to hear you say that," he sighed contently as he leaned in to a kiss.
He gently caressed her face bringing it closer to his own before brushing his lips against hers in a kiss that would be implanted in both their memories for eternity.
"Happy Valentines Day," he whispered as he gently ran his fingers through her hair. He stopped as he suddenly remembered something that he had picked up along the way.
"Here Misty," he said handing her a velvet covered oblong box.
"Ash, you shouldn't have," Misty insisted.
"What, aren't I allowed to buy my girlfriend a present?" he asked pouting at her playfully.
She smiled back at him. "Well when you put it that way," she replied.
She carefully opened the box to reveal a long silver chain. Hanging on the chain was a pendant shaped like a dratini wrapped around a sapphire. (A/N: as you can all probably tell I love Sapphires so any jewellery will obviously be made of sapphires rather than diamonds)
"It's beautiful," she whispered as though she was afraid that talking too loud would break it.
Ash carefully took the necklace and sat behind her as he wrapped it around her neck. "Not nearly as beautiful as you, my dear," he whispered huskily in her ear causing Misty to blush.
"Here," Misty said handing him a carefully wrapped present. "It's not really much, but I heard you needed it for your collection."
Inside was a comic, one of the rarest of all. He had been looking for this for as long as he could remember and now he had it.
"No wonder I love you," he smiled as he gently kissed her cheek.
She smiled as she relaxed into his body just wishing that she could spend forever in his arms. Wishing that they could just be likes this till the end of time.
Wishing that wishes like that always came true.
~ to be continued ~
OMG, there is only one more chapter of this to go and then it's over. I'm so going to miss this fic!
Anyway, I know Ash's decision was fairly obvious but hey who cares, as long as it's AAML I don't. I also know that Viridian Forest is no where near cerulean and that even running it would most likely take Ash more than a matter of hours to get there and back but it's called a 'poetic license' for a reason and this is probably it.
And to Ash and Misty forever, if you're reading this, I'll be posting the next Reason's chapter next weekend and then the every three weeks after that.
Etherelemental – I didn't know that about the flowers, I just thought that they were really pretty.
Thanks to all that reviewed and everything, I'll have a huge thank you list up for the lat chapter.
