Before I begin I would just like to apologise for the time it took to get this up.
Sorry
Disclaimer – I don't own Pokemon, the only Pokemon things I have is a Pikachu soft toy, which sits in my hammock thing with the rest of my teddies and a book I use for reference when I actually use Pokemon in my stories which isn't actually too often.
By the way, I do realize that 'Against All Odds' by Westlife and Mariah Carey (or Phil Collins if you prefer) would be more fitting but I had picked this song ages ago and I'm sure you're all sick of Westlife by now I on the other hand could never be sick of Westlife and I got the new one for Christmas (when I wrote this like five months ago) which means six more new story idea's. So as my friend Kris says "boo yah!"
Reasons of the Heart – One Last Song
Misty stared out into the churning, vast ocean before her sighing contently. It was almost hypnotizing the way it would hold her gaze to it's rhythmic motion to a song only she could hear.
She had always loved the water, the ocean especially, ever since she could remember. Looking out into the curling waves always made her feel so free and at ease like there was nothing left to bound her to this world. She felt as though she could just jump into the sea and drift away into forever.
She stepped up onto the ships railing and leant further forward so she could feel the strong winds against her face dancing through her hair and drying her tears. She didn't care about how dangerous it was for her to be in that position or anything else for that matter. Right now it was just she and the ocean, the way it had been since her parents died, the way she had always thought it would be.
But it wasn't like that anymore. This was the way it had been before he came along and changed her life so drastically.
She suddenly felt two strong and powerful arms wrap themselves around her waist drawing her fragile body closer to theirs the way they always did when she need to feel safe and protected, when she need to feel her feet back on solid ground.
"Don't tell me you were going to jump," a male voice said close to her ear.
She shook her head and smiled to herself a she felt the usual sense of perfection she always felt take over her. "Just wanted to take a closer look," she told him.
"Good," he replied huskily right next to her ear sending shivers of pleasure down her spine as she felt his warm breath on the back of her neck, "because I don't know what I'd do without you."
Misty turned around to meet a pair of warm brown eyes staring lovingly into her own cerulean blue. She immediately found herself lost in the deep chocolate brown of his eyes and falling deeper under his spell.
"Did I ever tell you how much I love you?" he asked her his eyes flashing teasingly as he gently weaved his fingers through her hair and stroked her face.
"Not in the last half hour," she teased back after a moment of mock thought as a smile pulled onto her lips.
"Well I do," he told her his tone becoming more serious and his eyes becoming sincere and devoted. "More than anything else in the universe, more than anyone or anything could ever imagine. You mean more to me than you could ever know and without you my life would be meaningless."
She smiled and leaned in to plant a passionate and loving kiss on his soft lips. She relished the feeling every time they kissed, it made her feel whole and complete like they were one in the same. She didn't think she could ever get tired of kissing him.
"I love you more with every second," she said quietly so only he could hear her confession of love, "more with every hour and every day. I love you Ash, always and forever."
Again they kissed conveying all their feelings deep inside. Words were no longer needed but as he breathed a single name next to her ear she was remind of how incredible it felt to hear her name flow upon his lips.
"Misty . . ."
"Misty," Ash called trying to wake the sleeping girl in his arms. (A/N: If you want to check out what they costumes look like, go to )
She looked so beautiful and peaceful. Her faced shined with an angelic glow and sparkled where the lights caught the shimmer on her face. No wonder he loved her so much.
She'd fainted into his arms the moment that she had opened the door to see his face. He couldn't understand why, I mean she had asked him to come over to sort some dance stuff out, hadn't she?
No wonder he couldn't understand Misty. If he ever did understand her he was sure that the sheer shock of it would send him into a state of comatose, he most definitely didn't want to find out if he was right.
"Look who's going to a dance with a fairy prince," Ash teased as she came to, "little Miss Fairy Princess."
She looked at him sleepily for a moment as she tried to figure out why she was lying in Ash's arms, not that she was complaining or anything. It took her a few seconds to remember everything from her hours of preparation to her standing at the door and seeing Ash's handsome face looking positively adorable in his costume. But that was where everything got all hazy and started flipping between reality and her dream on the ship.
She finally realized what was going on and came up with the proper response for Ash's 'Little Miss Fairy Princess' comment.
"I'm not a fairy princess," she told him as she got up out of his arms regrettably as she felt the warmth that had swept over her slip away. "I'm Thumbilina," she said defiantly daring him to speak with her eyes.
"Same thing," he told her with a shrug wearing a smug smile of his own.
"Uh-uh," she replied childishly. "She was just a miniature girl."
"With wings?" he asked her sarcastically gesturing to the beautiful indigo wings flowing from her back.
Misty made a sound that said she was obviously annoyed and for a few seconds their eyes were locked in a fierce, silent war but after that they both fell into an awkward silence and neither would meet the others eyes.
They were each lost in their thoughts about what tonight might hold for them.
Ash was busy going over the events he had planned for the night in his head ticking off all the things he needed and making sure he knew exactly what it was he needed to do.
Misty slipped into her Maidens Peek reverie dreaming of herself dancing with Ash underneath the glow of the stars with no one else there to ruin the moment. Or maybe it was the dream she had just had the wind tossing his wild hair dramatically and the sweet sent of the ocean lingering in the air.
Or maybe she was perfectly happy just being in the here and now.
"What are you doing here?" Misty asked being the first to break the silence.
"What do you mean 'What am I doing here'?" he asked her looking at her oddly as if she had sprouted a few extra limbs in odd places.
"Exactly what I sound like I mean," she said heatedly wondering what the hell he was going on about now.
"You told me to come here, or did that just slip your mind?" he asked his tone coming out a little harsher then he had expected it to. He didn't want to argue with Misty, he would love to be doing everything but arguing with her, it was just his stupid pride that always got in the way.
Misty and Ash were just too stubborn and proud to loose an argument and neither of them would back down. They were already both standing in fighting stances which was actually quite difficult for Misty thanks to the not quite long enough split in her skirt.
"I did not," Misty replied. "Why would I want you over?"
"How the hell am I supposed to know?" he asked rhetorically. "Brock just said you wanted to sort some stuff out after he was on the phone to Sa . . ."
Both their eyes widened with realization at they both came to the same conclusion.
A voice interrupted them before they had a chance to confirm their suspicions screaming blue bloody murder.
Or rather "Hey, those aren't my pants!"
~ to be con . . . just kidding, I haven't even gotten to the song yet but don't you think that would just be the most perfect place to cut it off? ~
They had long since moved out of their fighting stances and both looked up to the stairs where the voice had come from to reveal Melody glaring angrily at Ash now out of her previous hiding places for spying on Ash and Misty. If you looked really carefully you could see Sabrina hiding too, holding her ears and cringing as she had got Melody's shrill cry full force in her ear.
Melody stalked down stairs angry carefully lifting her dress so as not to trip on it. She stalked into the front hall until she was glaring up at Ash, which was quite intimidating despite her small stature and the petite dress complete with halo and angel wings.
Ash smiled sheepishly at Melody as he shot Misty a look of puppy dog brown eyes trying to convey a message of 'Please Help Me'. She shook her head and returned it with a 'You got yourself into this mess so you can just get yourself out of it' look that she had no option but to perfect after spending just a couple of years with the boy.
Melody closed her eyes and took a deep calming breath as she tried to state this as calmly as possible. She was about this close to killing Ash and if she and Misty weren't such good friends and if Misty wasn't so damn madly in love with the boy then she probably would have.
Ash sighed gratefully as he realized that Melody didn't look quite so angry and scary anymore. He turned to Misty and found himself entranced by her beauty all over again now that all the fear was going.
"Ash?" she said her voice almost nonchalant.
"Hmmm," he nodded in a faraway dreamy tone not taking his eyes off Misty, or blinking for that matter.
"That's not the costume I gave you," she told him her voice having a warning tone in it, as she looked him up and down suspiciously.
"Yes it is," he insisted flashing her an innocent smile, which made Misty's heart melt even though it wasn't directed at her.
"No, it's not," Melody replied directly taking deep breaths and counting back from ten in efforts to keep calm.
"These are you wings, and your jacket, and your shirt . . ." Ash trailed off as Melody cut him off with a simple gesture of her hand.
"Ash I'm going to ask you this just this one time," she said holding up her index finger quite dangerously for emphasis. "Where. Are. My. Pants?" she asked slowly pronouncing each word singularly and precisely.
"Oh these," he said gesturing to the pair of cream dress pants that had replaced the breecher things that still lacked a proper name thanks to this lazy authoress. "Well you see . . ." he stared trying to explain himself. "Um . . . it's like . . . no . . . uh . . . I, well . . . you know."
Misty stifled a giggle as she watched the stewing Melody glare at the very tall Ash who was at least a foot taller than her.
"C'mon Ash," she said finally taking pity on him. "We have important . . . stuff to do."
With that she dragged Ash out the door.
"That went perfectly," Sabrina smiled as if this was part of some intricate plan they were creating.
Melody just gave her an incomprehensible look and went back to putting the finishing touches on her look.
"Misty *gasp* *laugh* please *gasp* stop *gasp* laughing," he pleaded between his own laughter.
"You're *laugh* one to *gasp* to *laugh* to talk," she giggled back.
"It wasn't that funny," he said after taking a deep breath trying his best to remain serious.
Misty stopped laughing when he said this and turned to look at him with a curious look on her face. Ash took one look at her and just couldn't help it, she was so cute like that and it just made him laugh harder.
Again they both fell into fits of laughter, which they had struggled to keep in until they were out of earshot of Melody and Sabrina. They had practically run all the way to where they stood now under a huge oak tree clutching their stomachs painfully.
"Ok, you know we really have to stop laughing," she told him as she took a deep breath and held on to the huge oak tree for support.
"I guess," Ash said trying to keep his mind off what had happened so as not to laugh.
"But not yet," she giggled as she felt more laughter bubbling inside of her.
"Did you see her face?" Ash gasped between chuckles his eyes beginning to water.
"I thought she was going to kill you," she replied between giggles now finding it easier to control herself enough to actually speak.
"She wouldn't, would she?" Ash asked slightly anxiously not quite pulling it off seeing as he was still laughing.
Misty shook her head. "Melody wouldn't hurt a fly," she told him.
"That's what I said about you and nobody would believe me," he told her.
And that's where the conversation ended as well as the laughter. They weren't even sure why that one line was such a conversation killer. Maybe it was because Ash knew the meaning behind it and Misty was trying to figure it out, but the talking had become nil and they had fallen into silence again though this one was more comfortable.
Again they were lost in thoughts of each other. That's what the silence usually held for them even though they didn't know how similar their thoughts really were.
Ash took a quick glance at his watch, which looked rather out of place with the rest of his costume. It looked as though it was time for the dance to begin, if it hadn't already started and as the sorority and fraternity presidents it just wouldn't be right without them.
"My dearest Thumbilina," Ash teased bowing down in front of her and taking her hand in his as he planted a light kiss on the back of it. "May I have the most admirable pleasure of escorting thee to the dance?" he asked looking up to meet her eyes.
Misty giggled nervously as a light blush formed on her pale cheeks. "Well I wasn't really planning on going to the dance with a fairy prince," she teased back holding her index finger to the side of her mouth in an effort to look thoughtful, "but seeing as you ask so nicely."
Ash smiled as he offered her his arm, which she took gratefully before they began the walk to the dance.
By the time they got there the ball was in full swing. The band, Surreal which consisted of Ben, Harmony, Mercedes, Jade and Lee, were playing one of their own songs, a soft pop song called 'Don't' written by Harmony. The dance floor was crowded with couples and groups all enjoying themselves. (A/N: bravo to anyone who gets the above joke)
"Well if it isn't our fearless leaders back from the grave," Brock teased as he walked up to the two with Sabrina on his arm. Sabrina had told him about the near death occurrence with Melody. "You my friend," Brock added to Ash, "are a very brave man."
"Don't tell him that," Misty pleaded, "he already has a big enough ego as it is."
"Ouch Misty," Ash pouted cringing with mock pain as he put his hand to his heart, "that really hurt."
"Good, it was supposed to," Misty replied as she headed off but not before winking at Ash over her shoulder.
"Ash," Sabrina said giving him a concerned look, "would you breathe before you start turning blue?" she suggested raising an eyebrow.
Ash did as he was told.
"Aren't you going to follow her?" Brock asked.
"No," he replied shaking his head furiously. "Did you see where she's heading? Melody still wants to kill me remember."
"Why are you worried about Melody?" Sabrina asked. "She wouldn't hurt a fly."
"Do you actually have a fly that would testify to that?" Ash replied one eyebrow raised slightly in a sceptical manner. "I thought not, so until you do I think I'll go get some punch."
"Your loss," she shrugged as Brock led her to the dance floor and they began to dance to the fast beat playing against the up-tempo lyrics of a new song.
It had already been an hour and a half and Ash still hadn't worked up the courage to ask Misty to dance. They'd barely talked to each other since they had walked in together at the very beginning and the more he waited the more nervous he got.
This was a crucial part of his plan, the most crucial part perhaps and he had to get it all perfectly right down the very last drop.
'Just do it,' his mind tried to encourage him. 'It's not like she'll say no.'
'But what if she does?' he argued back.
'She won't,' it assured him.
'Oh god, here she comes now, what do I do? What do I do?' he screamed mentally at himself quite frantically.
"Hey Myst," he greeted nonchalantly.
"Hey Ash," she replied.
'There's no time like the present,' his mind coaxed. 'Do it now!'
"Misty," he said as he took a deep breath. "Doyouwanttodancewithme?" he asked quickly so she couldn't make out one word from another.
"What?" she asked her voice hopeful as she was almost certain she had caught the word dance in there.
Ash took a deep breath and decided to try again this time a little more proper. "Misty, may I have this dance?" he said calmer holding out his hand and looking away from her.
"I'd be delighted," she said proudly as she took his hand in hers and let him lead the way to the dance floor.
Neither could deny the spark of electricity they felt running between them and felt sure that the other had felt it to. Suddenly something felt different about tonight, they felt as though something was going to happen, something that would change their lives forever.
Ash nodded to Pikachu while Misty wasn't looking to give the signal to all those involved. Pikachu waited until Misty's back was to him before sending a thunderbolt into the sky and slowly everything began to fall into place.
The slightly upbeat song that had been playing began to change into a slow one as Ash moved closer to Misty and wrapped his arms around her. Misty smiled in content not ever wanting to let the feeling go.
Her smile widened as she recognized the familiar sound of her favourite song playing softly just for her.
'Please work,' Ash begged silently as the music got softer and the words began to fill his head.
"Take my hand
Touch my face
Let me feel your embrace
Let me know
In your eyes
That you won't say goodbye
Just tell me how you feel
I don't know what you're thinking anymore
So if you need me
You'd kiss me
Tell me how you feel
And if you want me
You'd show me
That your love is for real
And if you love me
You'd hold me in your arms where I belong
So while I'm feeling strong
I'll sing you one last song
Let me ask
Time has passed
Do you feel this could last?
If you don't
Why then stay
Take your wings and fly away
I love you way too much
To want to be the one who brings you down
So if you need me
You'd kiss me
And tell how you feel
And if you want me
You'd show me
That you're love is for real
And if you love me
You'd hold me in your arms where I belong
So while I'm feeling strong
I'll sing you one last song
One last song
I sing for you
Like I always did
This time it's for real
I'll never come to you like this
Expecting you'll return my kiss
So if you need me
You'd kiss me
And tell me how you feel
And if you want me
You'd show me
That your love is for real
And if you love me
You'd hold me in your arms where I belong
So while I'm feeling strong
I'll sing you one last song"
('One Last Song' by A1)
Their bodies moved gently to the soft music in harmony with one another's.
Pikachu's signal had fulfilled its purpose. It notified the band to change their song to the one he had asked them to play earlier.
It alerted Ash's old Butterfree who he had recently met up with and asked a favour of to sprinkle deactivated sleeping dust around them, which glowed lightly in the soft light of the Japanese lanterns and fairy lights hung from the trees and smelt like fresh lavender.
It told his Ivysaur to launch a specially developed glow attack into the sky and his Lapras to launch many miniature, harmless ice beam attacks thus creating glowing snowflakes that gently swirled around them.
It alerted a group of Bellossom he'd borrowed from an old friend to sprinkle white, pink and red rose petals in a well-controlled spiral around them and his Pigeot's flock to scatter tiny forget-me-nots from the sky above.
It notified Charizard to lightly heat the dry ice causing a sort of romantic mist to swirl around their ankles and a Haunter he had caught in Lavender town to make sure it all disappeared before it even hit the mist.
It was the perfect setting, more romantic than something even Misty who found romance in everything could conjure up in her dreams and the fact that she was sharing it with Ash only made it better.
The rest of the dancers had moved away some where along the way so they were the only two left dancing even when the song had ended and a new one had begun to play. Neither noticed this fact just perfectly content in each other's arms.
It was right where they belonged, there was no other place they would rather be right now and each prayed it would last forever.
"You don't know how much I love you right now," Ash sighed contently without thinking right next to her ear, closing his eyes wistfully.
"What?" Misty said pulling back from him.
Everything had been so wonderfully perfect, and now it was all spinning out of control all over again. It wasn't that she was complaining, it was the one thing she had longed for him to say her entire life, it was just his timing that was an issue.
She wasn't sure what to think right now. All the beauty that surrounded them she knew he had done for her and she was still having difficulty comprehending that without making matters more complicated.
Why did Ash always have to make things more complicated than they already were?
'Damn you Ash,' she thought though it lacked its usual confidence and assurance. She didn't think she meant it anymore, no matter what he did.
Ash searched her face and eyes hoping that they would tell him what to say to make things all right again. Her eyes were beginning to fill with tears and some unreadable emotion that he had seen in them many times before, and something that almost looked like hope.
But what would Misty be hoping for that concerned him?
"Forget it," he told her hoping it was what she wanted to hear from him, "it was nothing. I mean you know me Myst always saying stupid things and saying what's on my mind without even thinking. It was nothing Misty," he assured her, "just something stupid that I never meant to be said."
He said the last part with sadness and regret. He had meant to say those things because they hadn't just slipped from his mind and out of his mouth without a thought, they had come straight from his heart, but he couldn't let Misty know that; he had hurt her too many times and it was only to make matters worse if he did.
Misty turned away from him without a word as the tears began to fall from her eyes. She didn't want Ash to see her cry, especially not now. Again he was breaking her heart in two and again he was completely unaware of doing so.
She quickly began to walk away from him, off the dance floor and towards the exit hoping nobody would pay any attention to her, but they did. It seemed that she and Ash were every bodies business but their own.
It took Ash a few seconds to react to Misty walking away from him. He was so sure that Misty would be happy that he didn't mean it, but things just seemed to be getting more and more confusing than ever.
He chased after her manoeuvring through the crowd surely but slowly trying to follow Misty's path and hoping he could get to her on time.
As he saw Misty walking through the quad gates he knew that this was Misty walking out of his life once again, something he knew he could never live though again.
So this time he was going to do something that he hadn't had the courage to do last time. Summoning all the strength and sound he could muster he called to her hoping it would be enough to make her turn around one last time before she walked away without knowing how much she meant to him.
"Misty wait."
~ to be continued ~
Woo hoo! This has got to be the longest reason chapter I've ever written. And that would be the good news; the bad news is that there are only three more chapters of this to go. How sad.
So just in case I forget later on, here is a very long list thanking everyone who ever reviewed this story for doing so. I'll put 'Thank You's' in the next chapter too. A very special thanks to all that reviewed chapter 19 as it was a major ask.
Ah hem.
Mice (my first ever reviewer, you are like the best), Stephanie C (my second one, you rule too steff), ~*Crystal Lilly*~, 9065, Kay, Sailor Saturn, Evil #1, Nova S (if you liked my authors notes you are just going to love my new fic I'm writing called 'Dude Where's My Plot? I'm glad to see that someone thinks I'm funny), E2K, Roxynomekop1288, Rocket Girl, Misty25, More Confused, AJ, So, CrystalWolf, Cinnamon Spider, No-1, Jurrie, Zero.
Breath.
Bronwyn, Eri, Cowgirl Ed2002, Cutie Blossom, Cherry, Ryne, Lady Damita, The Axcuze For Abuze, King Cell, The Watcher (thanks for the bit about feinting in chapter 8), Caleb, Rebot Coder 99, Hopeless Romantic, Crystal, Jenny, Loper, Lilly, Madra Nikita, Tangi, Stoko981, fisbait (even though they called me a fuckin fruit and flamed it I'm still putting them down cause they went to the effort to review it and go through all eleven chapters before doing so), RookRaven, Latsyrc Girl, You_maycallmegod, micdog.
By the way this is chronological order.
Pokefan-Jenny, Pika Blu, animefreak85, Destiny's Light, Usagi Tuskino, Bobo the Hobo, Fanny chan, animegirl-mika, artic winds, Joe, Violet Emeralds (when are you going to finish 'Anything but Ordinary' it's like one of my favourite stories), Damsel in Distress (I am a fairy and I don't need no magic shoes so take that *click* *click*), Mika aka Digiberry, Cheery Angel, Erinperin, animorphs17 (even though you scare me).
Childsnake (I don't listen to music 24/7, I have to sleep you know and I am not in love with Ash I just listen to way too many love ballads that probably explains why there's so much Westlife in here), the Duke of Fenwick (and Ryo I remembered him this time thanks for the 'flame'), Saint Sieya, Seabeast (this should take another couple of months to finish so it should be done before you graduate), konrad, seongmi, Evan, Robyn1212 (stuffed animals beware).
Gees, now I know how the rap guy in the Kanto league felt and he only had to do 30 at a time.
Angel, LYNN, Shadow, Demon Caller, Kyle Piccolo, pikagurl23, MoonRider, Crystal Mew, Porcupine-Oh-Nine, The Holy Beergut, B-chan and Syaoran's Angel, Annie, Stephanie, b4me, DarienChow, Ash + Misty 4-eva, Beautiful Stranger, alex, Jennifer q, Susana, skysong, Travis (sorry the one holding her wasn't called James but an authors gotta do what an authors gotta do), Lidia, josh, Ash is MINE, Alexander, Adrod, Misty moon serenity, Clarachu, ssjgohanltp, Talon, Mony, Ianny, Samiah, tati, katinstyle2, Sailor Saba, Jehn, shaggi, Aquarius Tenshi, Lorena, ximena, wendy, moonbay, AmyDaFrEak.
Glass-tear-drops, Graciela, sweetprincess, fine literature appreciator, Maniac Mosli, blu_pirana, Eminamemem, LittleKid13, Diamond Dust, trutenor, Jessica, NiChoMiMeSaJe, Kasuka, Angel of Darkness, Xx Kusanagi xX, Moonie BaLoonie, Amy, Naiyan, StephyBug, puffmaster_12, joker64ca, CrEaTiV, madpostman, candyapple, Leo Cole, Akiya Arimoto, aya-yohiko, silverzero.
CystalRabite, kitty, you #1 fan, jessie, silver angel, Maniac Mosli, Joy-girl, smiley, Black Mistress, kongykun, Aisha ClanClan, Uranasu (I swear it's a complete coincidence that you have the same name, the reason I choose it was because Will Simmons and Melissa Fox from SVH Senior Year are kind of the people I based it one seeing as I don't like them and rather than thinking up original names I just swapped their last names), me, UranusBlade, Ashla (yeah I exaggerated a little but it was only for effect and look at the response it got), roxy gurl (Lisa you shouldn't have, at least I think it's Lisa, if it isn't than I'm sure this is embarrassing).
fyreblazen, CrystalFox, Queen of Games, Lady Knight, Black Mistress, Multiple Lilys (I'm sorry I got the grammar wrong but I read a book with it written like that), Dancergal06, Lily of the Shadow, Miss Queen of the World, smiley, dragonsbane, Zeta-Bee, seongmi, Saz, Amanda, hypercat, monkeysme (and you thought last chapters cliffy was bad, I assure you this one is worse), KuTiExAzNxAnGeL, lil_sakura, Dark Charizard, miyata-lover, Kit Kat, Jason, Yami's Girl Forever, Shadow Fox, Rachael Faith Black, RuRsHeR.
Sorry to anyone I missed out or if I put some twice but you have to remember that I sifted through about 400 reviews to get this list.
Please review, as you can tell I really like reviews and the more I get the sooner I'll be able to get the next chapter up. Thank you all the people in that list above and anyone who's read my story for inspiring me to continue and not just give up on it.
And go to my site and tell Lisa how wonderful she is for making it for me so I could update.