Grasp

Ash strode toward the Cerulean gym, pulling his jacket on as he went. The night air was cool and still, streetlights casting pale halos on the ground. Stores glowed with neon signs and flashing windows. A car passed by, growling low, the occupants hidden in darkness. Ash broke into a run.

Late-night shoppers, prowling the streets, flew by him. Left, right, stop, around the stray Meowth, past the restaurant on the corner. Ash recalled another time, February 14, when he had used the same route and showed up at Misty's window, wondering why he was there.

Up this way, right, dodge by the couple (a quick, wistful look backward), jump over the sleeping Houndoom, through the trash cans in the alley and then crash through the bushes behind the gym.

He knocked on the door to the gym, false hope rising and then falling in his chest when no one answered. What a nut he was. No one in their right mind would be in the gym now. Deflated, he turned away to leave.

"Oh. Hi. It's you."

Ash spun around and stared at the pale figure that hung inside the doorway. Misty blushed, slowly opening the door. "Why are you awake?" Ash blurted before he could check himself.

She looked embarrassed and then somewhat confused. "I..." she began, but stopped. "Well, why are you awake?" Wary curiosity looked out of her soft blue eyes, and a teasing smile turned up the corners of her mouth.

"I can't say." Ash cocked his head, not sure what to think of this unexpected development. His chest rose and fell with panting. "Can I come in?"

"Sure."

She led him to the edge of the pool, where she sat down, staring out the skylight. The moonlight gleamed palely on her head, turning the fiery red strands of her hair silver. She didn't look as if she had been sleeping, though a thin nightgown hung from her slender frame, reaching down to her knees. Ash sat beside her, keeping a careful distance. She didn't move. A pang of fear struck his heart; there had been a time when she would have closed the distance between them and laid her head on his shoulder, letting him move his arm securely around her waist. Had that girl completely gone?

The silence, filled with haunting echoes, was oppressive. Ash fidgeted, occasionally glancing sideways at Misty, who seemed content to simply dip her bare feet in the pool and stare endlessly out the skylight, as if searching for the answers to her questions in the stars. Outside, a car rushed by, its ghost light shining briefly on the ceiling.

"Why are you awake?" he asked at last. His voice echoed eerily in the gym. Misty shrugged and focused once again on the darkened space that lay before her, water lapping around her ankles. "I don't really know. I just can't sleep. Sometimes I'm afraid that there's something that I need to know, and I can't remember it. What if my sisters didn't tell me everything? They're my sisters, but I don't even know them anymore. I'm afraid that I couldn't be the same Misty that my fans had known. I just... I feel like I'm missing something. There's something important that I forgot, but I can't remember." Her face clouded as she continued. "There's something I have to know. It hurts me every time I think about it."

Misty stared at him in alarm as he struggled to keep the tears from forming. "Are you okay? I shouldn't be telling you this. I'm sorry; I just got carried away." A worried look came over her, and she reached for him.

"No." Ash shook his head, determined to keep his head above dark waters. "It's nothing." He pulled away from her steadying hand. "Nothing."

"It can't be." Her azure eyes seemed to be the only thing he could focus on, his anchor in the swirling storm. "It can't be nothing. Tell me."

Ash began hesitantly, trying to determine what to tell this remnant of the girl he had known. "I've lost someone. She's still alive, but I'm dead to her now. She means everything to me, but I just can't tell her." His voice cracked, and he paused with Misty's gaze urging him on. "I don't know if she'll ever acknowledge me again, but she couldn't have the same feelings for me. And then I had to be an idiot and make those stupid mistakes." He took a breath, held it, sighed and buried his hands in his jagged black hair.

Misty watched him curiously, eyes moist. "I hope she will. I think... I think she knows."

"Thank you." He stood up abruptly, cutting off conversation. There was a faint, almost invisible look in her eyes like recognition, but he shook away the illusion. He had already told her about himself. She knew about him now; so what? He'd been warned, but like the idiot he was doomed to be, he tried anyways. As usual, he thought of it as a Pokemon battle, where sheer will and intense training always reaped results. Now he saw how wrong he was.

Bitterly, he wrenched open the gym door, and the night's fingers of cold air streamed in. He looked back one last time at the girl who sat at the edge of the pool, but she wasn't there anymore. Misty stood by his side, her small hands clutching his. For a moment he wondered why she was doing this, why her eyes were suddenly filled with broken memories and tears.

"I remember, Ash," she said, voice trembling. He started at her words, the sweetness of hearing his name pass her lips dulled by the realization that she must be acting for his sake. Her lying sisters must have told her about him. He took his hand away, but she grasped it again. "I knew my sisters weren't telling me something, but this--" She gulped and her eyes were lowered to his hand. "How could I ever forget you?" she whispered desperately, as he tried pulling away from her very convincing act one more time. "Don't go. I mean it. I remember," she cried out, breathless, eyes wide. "You went to the Tournaments even though you promised me that you would take me on a date. I drove here, and then..." She stopped.

"Your sisters could've told you that," he said incredulously.

"When we met," she said firmly, "I pulled you and Pikachu out of that river. You stole my bike because those Spearows were chasing you. And when you wrecked my bike, I said I would follow you until you paid me back." Almost shyly, she continued, "After a while, it wasn't even the real reason I stayed with you anymore. I don't think we knew it then, not even when I got jealous about that girl at the Silver Tournament who kept clinging to you. Not even when May and Dawn traveled with you instead of me. I shouldn't have worried, though," she added with a smile. "After all those years, we just fell naturally into our roles. You'd hold my hand when no one was looking, and little by little, it just sort of grew."

"They could have told you," Ash said dumbly.

"I saved Pikachu when he was fighting that Gyarados." Ash's eyes widened in disbelief as she went on. "I told you not to go on. Only we know about that, Ash. Don't fool yourself like you always do." Then her eyes shone. "Ash, I remember it all. You can't imagine what it's like to not know anything about yourself. I didn't know anything when I woke up and saw Brock staring at me like I was some ghost. I felt so empty, like someone had drained all the water out of me. Please, please believe me," she pleaded with him.

Ash looked into her eyes, really looked into them, and he saw once again the girl whom he had fallen in love with a lifetime ago. All of the memories they had created together, every touch and look, shone out of her clear blue eyes. He knew at once that there was no room for words, so he simply leaned forward and kissed her gently.

"It's been too long, hasn't it," Misty sighed after they broke apart. "We just wouldn't admit that... that..."

"What?"

"You know," she murmured, leaning against him in the way that somehow made his heart beat twice as fast as usual. "You say it first."

Ash's mouth turned up with a smile as he accepted the challenge. He laughed softly in her ear, teasingly, and felt her face blush beneath his fingers. "Okay," he whispered, his words lowered until they were softer than heartbeats.

"I love you."

w00t omg the last chapter!! I can't believe it; I finished a story with more than one chapter! This is amazing. I should hold a party celebrating my accomplishment.

Just kidding, of course. But I would've liked to invite all of my devoted readers to a party (if I was sure that none of you are STALKERS or anything like that, of course).

Oh, and can anyone guess what "blue feathers" signify? If you do, I'll email you part of my next story!