A Frozen Heart and the Beast Within: Secrets

In the dark space of nothingness, nothing could be seen by the human eye.

'Where am I?'

In the middle of the abyss was the floating body of a young teen. Raven hair lay upon the body's head, wild, yet silky and smooth to the human touch, as it framed the face below. Covering the torso was the fabric of a black shirt, while the lower half was covered by blue jeans held onto the waist by a brown belt that hung loosely at the end. The body lacked socks and shoes, leaving the figure barefoot; this figure was everyone's favorite (mainly mine) character known as Ash. (The way he is dressed is the same way I portrayed him in the first chapter, which I forgot to tell everyone is the outfit he wears from season 1, just without the jacket, gloves, and hat.)

'What happen to me?'

The teen's eyes slowly opened to reveal brown eyes, that held so much emotions, that lay underneath. Slowly, but surely did the raven float up to a standing position before looking around and noticing that all he could see was only pitch darkness. The lanky, raven-haired boy kept looking around praying and hoping that he would find someone to anything. Even though he floated and looked everywhere, he eventually gave up his search, knowing it would be fruitless from his many previous attempts. (This keeps happening to him, so hence the "previous attempts".)

Minutes passed as the the lanky teen floated through nothingness, the little sanity he had left dwindling down to a tiny string before finally snapping.

'Come on, you should know this place.'

The boy spun around, startled by the first voice he'd heard in what seemed like an eternity. The voice sounded like his own, but with a deep, even ominous tone. Searching once more through the darkness for the source of the voice was again useless.

'What's wrong? Scared?'

"Maybe..."

'Don't be! I'm not here to hurt you (bull), I just wanted to see how my past self was doing.'

"What do you mean 'past self'?"

'Don't you remember? You gave me control after the day when you finally lost everything that is dear to you.'

"What are you talking about?"

'All in due time...'

"Why is there just darkness? Where is everyone? Where is Gary?"

'...'

As the voice gave its final reply, it started to fade into a deep chuckling that frightened the poor boy. He tried piecing together the information that the voice told him, hoping to figure out what was happening, but nothing made sense. As the boy was immersed in his pondering, a light shone behind him, knocking him back (behind him a screen was forming and since he is just floating around aimlessly, the crashed into it.). The raven got up, turned around, and came face to face with a TV screen. It was a thin and bright theater screen. As the boy examined it, it started to play a movie that he just wasn't prepared for.

It had been hours since Gary explained himself and after many random conversations (all teens for some odd reason will start a subject, but during it someone will pull something up that starts another one for some very odd reason.), everyone had decided that it was time to go home.

"See ya guys! And thanks for listening to my story. I feel better now that I've explained everything.", said a visibly relaxed auburn haired teen.

"Its alright. Besides, now that we know what we're facing, maybe we can change everyone's lives!", replied our calm Brock.

"Yea, you're right! Well, see you all in school tomorrow!"

"Bye!", shouted Gary's friends.

The teen stood there, waving, as his friends left his home, but as soon as they were out of sight, a hand grabbed the boy's shoulder, pulling him back. The boy shook, shutting his eyes tightly and tensing his body, as he waited for something to happen, only to relax after hearing the voice of whoever was holding him.

"I see your friends left," his sister said.

"Yeah! They helped me a lot, so maybe now I can relax more."

As they were talking, Daisy had slowly pulled her brother to the living room, where they both sat on the couches.

"Gary, we need to talk."

"What do you want to talk about?"

Seeing her brother better and more calm destroyed her. How could she explain to him about their situation, and destroy that calm aura he had now? She couldn't, but she knew that soon he would find out the wrong way and by then it would have been too late to fix anything. It would be better if her brother heard it from her. With this set in her mind, Daisy started crying before pulling her younger brother into a tight hug. Despite his surprise, Gary held her until she was calm enough to speak. Time flew by as the two siblings hugged, but after ten to twenty minutes, Daisy had calmed herself enough to finally explain about their parents

"I don't wanna lie to you, so I'll just come out and say it. I overheard you and your friends talking, and I think it's time for you to know the reason why our parents left and how you ended in my care."

As Daisy spoke, Gary could only sit there in shock, this being the first time he had ever heard his sister mention them. He knew, by her previous actions, that this was not going to end well, so in the limited amount of time he tried to prepare himself for another rough patch that he was about to encounter. Today though, lady luck was just not on his side.

(This happens after the swimming flashback in chapter 2. This is still in the same year just later in months.)

A small boy with auburn hair entered the living room, looking for something and quickly finding it. There was a woman with long redish hair sitting on the couch sewing clothes, her attention soon being drawn to a small hand pulling on the hem of her dress.

"What is it, sweety?"

The small boy fidgeted in place, in his mind he had a feeling something bad was going to happen soon, but he, like most children, went to a parent when he needed help. The young one has had this feeling for quite awhile now and he did his best to ignore it, yet no matter what he couldn't get rid of it and that is where we found him now. He did not, however, know that the simple question he was about to ask would end up ruining him.

"Mommy, I need help!"

"With what, dear?"

"Well, I kind of like our neighbors."

Their neighbors were the 'Ketchum' family; the family consisted of three people. The mother was a beautiful red head named Delia, who was very sweet, but was also very timid. She loved to garden as their house was surrounded by beautiful flower, but what was stranger about her was that she wore clothing that covered most of her body, even though she had a body of a model. The son was a ball of energy as he was usually found doing something. This had gotten the attention of her son a few years ago and after a quick meeting, they became the best of friends. Though recently her son was acting a bit harsh to the younger boy, but hey, boys will be boys. The last figure of the family was the father, but she never really got to meet him so she didn't know much.

"So do I. The Ketchum family is nice, and makes for very good neighbors."

"Nooo, what I mean is that I really like Ash. Every time I get near him, my tummy feels empty and I my face feels warm. What is happening to me? And why do I feel like this mommy?" (Age doesn't matter when you fall into deep love. To me, the couples you see in high school are pathetic since to me they are in 'puppy' love. There is no actual emotional attraction just plain physical which leads to all the break ups. By the way don't flame about this as it is just my view.)

As the small boy shared his innermost feelings, he didn't notice the negative emotions that flashed in his mother eyes. Mrs. Oak set down her sewing needle and cloth, stood up, and walked into the kitchen to talk to her husband, who was reading a book at the table, the small child following all the way.

"Honey, I need to talk to you."

"What is it, dear?"

She pulled the boy's father into a corner and spoke in hushed voices as a young girl with her mother's and father's hair color mixed together (the father is a brunette and since they don't really have a role in my story they will not really be explained, but the two make the auburn hair color that both children have. On another note...CHIBI DAISY! SHE IS MINE!), walked into the room. She had just woken up from a nap and went to the kitchen for some food where she noticed her younger brother. Since he was just standing there sucking his thumb (kawaii!), she decided to play with him and get food later. What she didn't know was that he was still waiting for their parents to return and talk to him.

Going over to him, she slowly picked him up and set him on her back where she proceeded to give him a piggy back ride, which resulted in happy squealing from the boy. The two children were having fun until their father walked over to them and spoke.

"Gary, go to your room, we need to talk to your sister."

"Ok daddy."

Setting the happy child down, the boy happily headed for the staircase, completely forgetting about the answer he wanted for his question (hey, just like me :3 ), but as soon as he reached the first step of the stair case, curiosity hit him.

'What could mommy and daddy want with sister?'

He was just too curious for his own good. Stepping away from the staircase, he turned around and hid behind the arch that connected the living room and kitchen, overhearing his family's conversation; not fully understanding the hidden meaning behind his father's words.

"Daisy, we're going to go away for a while, and we want you and Gary to live with Grandpa Oak."

"But why, Daddy?"

"Well, we need to get away real quick since urgent business appeared at the office, and I need your mother there with me so she can help me work on the project the boss put on me."

"Ok..."

As the two talked, the father didn't realize that his thirteen year old daughter wasn't just staring at him, but was actually staring into his eye and reading him like a open book (my mother has the same ability so no matter what we can't lie to her.). Daisy was able to find out that there was more going on and that she was being lied to, she also knew that this had to deal with her brother, but couldn't fully grasp what it was, so she just kept up with the understanding mask she had on. As the two finished up their conversation, the parents walked away, unaware that Daisy could hear the last piece of the conversation that her mother wanted to keep between her husband and herself.

"We need to get away from that wretched child for good."

"I agree!"

Daisy's was disgusted with her parents, she had known for awhile now that Gary had a crush on Ash, but she couldn't say anything until he came to her. She was hoping with all her heart that her parents would understand, but it seems it was all for nothing.

Once they had finished talking, Gary had decided that they were done and headed upstairs. What he was unaware of, was that tomorrow would be a day of great sadness for him. He had fallen asleep as his parents packed and left, but the person still up was his older sister. Even though she now resented her parents, she couldn't help but feel a tug of dread. As minutes passed she had finally decided to go to sleep, but halfway up the stairs the door bell rang. Quickly checking to make sure Gary was still asleep, which he was, she proceeded to the front door and opened it; only to reveal a cop.

"Hello little girl, but would you happen to be Daisy Oak?"

"Yes sir."

"I'm sorry to report this, but your parents were in a car accident. We tried to save them, but by the time we got them out of the car they were dead."

This was too big of a shock to her young mind. Even though she resented them now, she still remembered all the good times they had, but she had to be strong for her brother. She didn't know if their grandpa would be like their parents, but she wasn't going to take the chance. She was going to keep her younger brother safe no matter what, so with that she held back the tears that were threatening to appear and kept herself in check. She would cry after the cop left.

"Does anybody else live here?"

"Yes sir. It's our grandpa, so I'm sure he can take care of us."

"Good to hear. Well I will take my leave."

No sooner after closing the door did she run up to her room and throw herself on to her bed, did she let everything out. It had been a few hours into the night before she finally calmed down, did she start thinking up plans to survive.

"Our parents left because they didn't want to raise a gay son, so I took it upon myself to care for you the way a real mother would, while still acting like a sister."

"You mean...all this time...they hated me just because I liked Ash?"

"I hate to say it, but yes, that's the truth."

They continued their talk, as Daisy went on about their parents having back up money which she used for four years before she took on a job to pay the bills and food. She also explained how their parents died and how she lied to him about them being away to keep him safe. They even went into the subject about their grandfather still not knowing about Gary's sexuality and they planned to keep it that way.

After talking for awhile and getting everything out on the table, Gary decided to go to bed and collect his thoughts about the day's events. He lay there on his bed, in his night clothes as his thoughts went on a rampage. He didn't know how to see his parents in the same light ever again, everything was happening to fast for him and he could feel his mind slipping even further. An hour passed before he finally fell into a long needed sleep, but was unaware of the dark figured that stood next to the bed a short time after. The figure looked at the sleeping boy for a few minutes before it turned and left the room through the window; locking it as he left.