No excuses, I just haven't had it in me to write much lately. My goal is to finish this and the other multi-chapter fic I'm in the middle of and be done. Whether that means done and then drabbles/oneshots when the mood strikes or done for good I have no idea.


Haille groaned and shifted so that she wasn't lying on her arm. Things with Asher had progressed steadily in the weeks since their date, but in a different way. They hadn't gone out again but were almost inseparable otherwise. Everything seemed harder now, her feelings were still there and it was clear that he felt the same way, but Haille hadn't been able to talk him into not taking the pills anymore. Whenever she brought it up, he would make excuses to keep going. If she was being honest, she wasn't sure that she was trying very hard to make him stop.

Ever since her conversation with Jessie, Haille had been at war with herself. The one side knew that she had to finish what she came here to do but the other selfishly wanted to be happy with Asher. Haille knew that if he stopped taking the pills, he'd be back to normal and she'd have to leave. The longer it took for him to decide not to take them, the longer she had with him.

She felt him stirring on the other side of the bed and turned to look at him. Asher seemed to recognize her attention before he opened his eyes because he reached out, pulling her closer, and kissing her sleepily. Haille allowed herself to be enveloped in his arms with a sigh.

"Can we stay here all day?" she asked burrowing closer to his chest.

"That sounds perfect, but I have a meeting with my father." She frowned and reached her hand up to his cheek and then his forehead.

"I don't know if you should go, you're feeling a bit warm." Haille looked at him with mock concern, "It would be awful if Giovanni got sick when I'm right here to warn you."

Asher laughed putting his own hand against his forehead, "I'm sure he'd appreciate your concern both for himself and for me."

"I'm just looking out for the future of this organization," she whispered as his lips found their way to her neck and collarbone. After a moment Asher pushed himself up so he could look down at her. He studied her face for what felt to Haille like forever until he broke into a grin.

"I love you."

Her heart leapt up into her throat, she had only heard those words from his mouth once before. The last time his features had immediately moved to one of terror as if the declaration, and her prompt response, surprised him and a week later he was gone. This time she waited. She watched his eyes for any flicker of distress, waited for his smile to suddenly seem fake, waited for any sense of pulling away but there was none. Asher was staring at her in a way that made her shiver, as if she was the only other person in existence. He stared at her in a way that she wasn't sure she had even been looked at before. She definitely couldn't remember feeling this way before, not even during the good times with Ash.

"I love you." she smiled, and she meant it. In this moment she was sure that she loved him, maybe it was intoxicating and morally wrong but she loved him. And if she only had this moment before everything went back to normal she was going to tell him exactly what she felt.

Asher's expression turned giddy as he repeated it back to her breathlessly. She closed the space between them, kissing his lips hungrily as though she could taste the words. He moaned and moved his hand between her thighs, Haille knew that his meeting with his father had been forgotten for now.

She was awoken by a sharp knock at the door, rolling over onto her stomach she moaned and buried her face in the pillow.

The knock sounded again, "Door." She groaned softly reaching her arms out, blindly searching for Asher. Haille's hands were only met with cold silken sheets so she opened her eyes as whoever was on the other side of the door knocked again.

"Hold on," her voice sounded hoarse as she tried to project it to the visitor, "I'm coming."

She grabbed a robe from the back of the bathroom door and wrapped it around herself as she made her way to the door leading out of the room. Whipping it open, she was met with one of the girls that worked as Giovanni's personal assistants.

Domino, if Haille was remembering her name correctly, gave her appearance a once over and smirked coldly, "Giovanni would like to see you as soon as possible, if you think you could make yourself presentable."

Without waiting for a response, the younger woman turned on her heels and walked briskly down the hallway toward the elevator. Haille rolled her eyes and shut the door sighing quietly. Asher had clearly left sometime after she had fallen back to sleep for his meeting with his father, but she imagined he wasn't still with him if Giovanni had sent a PA to retrieve her.

She dressed quickly, brushing her hair but doing nothing more than moisturizer on her face before walking out of the room and to the elevator. It wasn't until the doors had closed that it occurred to her how strange it was to be summoned to Giovanni's office. Since her arrival here almost 5 months ago she had had very little interaction with with Asher's father instead learning anything about the company through the son.

Haille made it to Giovanni's outer office quickly and was surprised to find it empty, no barely legal girls to usher her into the main office. She paused only briefly, a small voice in the back of her mind telling her she was walking into a trap. But one glance at the camera above the door reminded her that he already knew she was here so she knocked.

"Come in."

She walked in to find Giovanni alone, he looked up and smiled when he saw her, "Thank you for coming so quickly, Misty. It's been an interesting few months hasn't it?"

She froze with one hand on the door hoping that she had heard him wrong but knowing that she hadn't.

"How?"

"I think it's best if we both presume the other isn't an idiot, don't you think?" He gestured to the chairs on the opposite side of his desk, "Please, have a seat. We have a lot to discuss."

She obeyed without a word, keeping her eyes on Giovanni as she moved.

"You don't have to be frightened, I'm not going to hurt you. Truth be told, Jessie's plan is a better test than I could have imagined for my science experiment."

"Experiment? You stole his life!" She exclaimed.

"What life? He wasn't doing anything of value, nothing that couldn't be done here. Except one thing." The expression on Giovanni's face scared Misty so she adjusted in the seat and changed the subject.

"How long have you known?"

"When my daughter brought you into my office that first day I had my suspicions. But I didn't know for sure until a week later when my scouts reported that you had disappeared from Cerulean City with no warning. Your sisters weren't very good at coming up with an excuse for you."

"I couldn't tell them where I was," she mused quietly. "So what now? Clearly you know who I am, I can guess that you know why I'm here. I'm guessing you didn't bring me into your office to congratulate me on a job well done."

"Very astute. Of course it could be because you haven't succeeded. Asher is no closer to becoming Ash then he was when you arrived. If anything, your coming here has only shown me how strong the drug my scientists invented is." he leaned back slightly in his chair, as if they were old friends catching up. "The reason I asked you here was because you have a very difficult decision ahead of you."

Giovanni paused and looked at her as if he was willing her to come up with the answer immediately, without even knowing the question.

"Where is he?" she asked suddenly afraid for him.

"Asher is fine, I assure you. He's actually waiting for you to join him." He leaned forward again, resting his elbows on the desk.

"Misty, I think he's ready for the final test. I'm going to take you to the conference room, where Asher is waiting, and I want you to tell him the truth."

"The truth?"

"Everything. Tell him who you are, who he is. I think it's time to see how he reacts." Giovanni's eyes searched hers. For triumph, caution, fear, she wasn't sure.

"Wouldn't," she hesitated, "wouldn't that destroy everything you've done?"

"We shall see," he smiled standing and gesturing her toward the door.

Misty had never been to the conference room before, she hadn't even realized that there was a conference room. But she followed Giovanni wordlessly trying to figure out what was in it for him. If Misty told Asher the truth, the whole truth, she couldn't imagine that he'd want to stay. The only thing she could think of, was that Giovanni knew something that she didn't, something that he thought would be a game changer.

They reached a set of black double doors which Giovanni opened and stepped to the side for her to walk in. She looked around the room and her heart sank.

Jessie, James and Delia occupied seats on the right side of the table talking quietly with Asher who sat alone on the left side. They all looked up when she entered but only Asher's eyes lit up, he stood from his seat at the table and walked over to her.

"Haille," he grinned leaning down to kiss her.

Misty returned the kiss but caught the eye of everyone else in the room and sighed, "Misty."

"What?" Asher laughed and gave her a strange look.

"My name is Misty. not Haille. Haille is actually my middle name but that isn't important," she held him at arms length. "Look, maybe we should sit down."

"No, I don't understand. Why would you lie about your name?" he frowned.

Misty glanced back at the table where everyone was still watching her expectantly. Giovanni had taken the seat at the head of the table and was looking at them the way a person might watch a play.

"Go ahead," he encouraged.

"This isn't your life," she started. "Not really, the woman sitting at the table, next to your father, she's your mother."

Asher slowly turned his attention back to Delia almost drinking in her appearance before turning to Misty.

"You grew up with her, in Pallet Town, and your life was the exact opposite of this. I don't know the whole story, but your parents had a deal that you wouldn't be raised here and you'd be given the choice when you turned twenty-five on whether you wanted to learn how to run the family business." Misty took a breath and shot one last look at Giovanni before continuing.

"Your father, he kidnapped you and brought you here. He somehow erased your memories and replaced them with false ones. He's giving you no choice in the matter."

Asher was quiet for a long time, frowning at the ground as he tried to make sense of what she had told him. He looked at everyone sitting at the table in turn, landing on his father last where his gaze lingered the longest.

Giovanni nodded slightly. "Everything she's telling you is true. My scientists invented a drug that suppressed your long term memories and replaced them with false ones. The pills you needed to take daily kept the memories suppressed between bi-monthly injections. There is an antidote, if that's what you wish to call it, that will bypass the withdrawal induced migraine and restore your memory almost immediately. Although, the pills and injections are obviously manageable should you choose to continue with this life."

"Why on earth would he continue after everything you just told him?" Delia broke in. "My son wouldn't want this, this isn't what we agreed on."

"Delia, this is exactly what we agreed on. You were allowed to raise our son until he turned twenty-five with no interference from me or my company and now he's being given a choice." he turned his attention to Asher and Misty who were still standing by the door. "Go ahead, Asher, I'm sure you still have questions."

Asher nodded slowly and turned his attention back to Misty, studying her for a moment before speaking again.

"Why you?"

Misty felt a lump start to form in her throat she was hoping it wouldn't come to this, at least not until they could talk privately.

"We...used to be friends, best friends." she started.

"But not anymore?" he frowned in confusion.

Misty shook her head, "Your mother thought that if I were around you I could help you remember who you really are. She had hoped that I had been out of your life long enough that your father wouldn't recognize me and keep me away from you."

Asher stared at her silently, his eyes so intense that Misty broke eye contact.

"We were friends, but we haven't been for awhile?" he said to himself. "You didn't use your real name...What's my real name?"

His voice was so quiet Misty wasn't sure if anyone at the table had heard him, she hoped someone had. She didn't want to be the one to answer this question but she guessed that he already knew.

"Your name is Asher, but no one ever called you that. You preferred-"

"Ash," he interrupted.

Misty didn't respond she was too afraid that she would start crying. Unfortunately, Giovanni was the next person to speak up.

"It would seem that your choice is simple, Asher." he leaned forward gesturing to Delia. "Take the antidote and go back to your old life. You won't face any opposition from me, feel free to live the rest of your life in peace. But you'll be the person that Misty hates most, the person she vowed never to speak to again. Or, continue suppressing your memories, take this," Giovanni pulled a small velvet box out of his jacket pocket and set it on the table. "My grandmother's ring, the reason you came to my office this morning, and you get to keep the girl."

Suddenly the reason Giovanni wanted her to tell Asher the truth became clear. Delia, Jessie, and James used Misty's former relationship with Ash in hopes of jogging his memory. Giovanni waited until Asher became serious about Haille hoping that the thought of losing her would make him stay.

Misty herself had no idea what she wanted. It seemed as if she was about to be handed the solution to everything, but the idea of Asher choosing to remain being drugged just to keep her made her feel sick.

"This isn't fair," she shook her head and glared at everyone at the table. "This isn't fair to me, and more importantly it isn't fair to Ash. You pretend he has a choice, you pretend that I have a choice but you've taken it away from us. Either way one of us loses."

"Misty…" Delia sighed, "after all this, you're still saying there's no way? No possible way that you could forgive him? Even when it's clear the feelings are still there."

"I will always love him, that's my burden." Misty turned to face Ash with a cold look on her face. "Make whatever decision you want, but I won't the reason for it. Choose Saffron City or Pallet Town, wherever you feel like you most belong. I'm not part of your prize or sacrifice. I'm going home."

She turned and walked out of the conference room briskly, it wasn't until she was safely inside the elevator that she allowed herself to take a breath and realize no one had followed her.


So the next chapter will be the last one, in case you didn't notice that the story is wrapping up. As for when the last chapter will be posted? Who knows. It'll depend on how quickly I write it.