Chapter 2-Runaways, Freaky Diaries, and the Long Way Home

"Anyway, we should get inside. I don't have an extra bed, but you can take mine, if you want."

"You're being unusually kind."

He grinned. "I'm always like this, duh? Haven't you ever met a person like me?"

Ash meant it as a sarcastic remark, but she took it seriously. "No."

"Well, anyway, I guess it's a first," he said, as he tried to keep his smile from faltering. He knew what she had been through. It had never been as worse for him, but he knew how sick life could be. "Do you want my bed? You look tired, and I'll be fine."

"Nah, I don't think I can sleep, it's harder for me, I'll just sit on the ledge and try not to fall and die again." she mustered a smile. "Besides, after saving my life, you should get the bed."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes!" Dawn said, and made her way to the front of the ledge. She looked down, and her eyes widened. It was so far away, if she had fallen, she would have died. She couldn't die now, she had something to do.

She looked towards her right. The path was cleared, and no matter how much she wanted to explore, she had to repay Ash for saving her life. She turned towards the left, and made her way towards the uncleared path. She kicked against the stones that blocked her path, and made her way up the pile of stones.

She began to clear the path, throwing the boudlers off the mountainside. All of a sudden, she slipped, and began to fall off of the cliff again.

She fell five feet down ad hit the path. Looking around her, she realized the pathway had lengthened. She frowned, and her face flushed with anger as she realized he had been hiding something from her.

Before going back to the ledge, she tried to jump from the cliff again. The pathway widened, and she fell back onto it.

She ran down the cliffside, and tiptoed to Ash's bed. As frighteningly as she could, she shook him and yelled, "Wake up!"

"WHAT, what?!"

She took a step back before asking, "What the hell is with this cliff? Are you hiding something? I fell off of the rock pile you were clearing and the path just OPENED UP!"

She picked him up, and pinned him against the wall. "Explain. Now."

"Well, I hoped that you'd leave the cliff before you realized what was wrong with it. That was the whole reason I didn't want you to clear the rock pile! If you survive making it onto this mountain, then it's the one place you can't die. You're immortal here. No-"

"What?!"

"Just listen. People get very vain about being immortal here. They don't want to leave. I found boxes and boxes of diaries, and the entries were written for 153 years! The person talked about how they didn't want to leave, but then they got annoyed about being treated like a kid, so I guess he left. I don't know what happened to him. That's why I'd hoped you'd leave before I told you. Whatever."

He checked his watch. "It's 2:03. I'm going to…just…"

Ash conked out, and she set him on the bed. She wanted to punch him, but she needed him for more information, and besides, it wasn't that nice of a thing to do.

Dawn's eyes widened. Since when did I care about what was nice and what wasn't?!

"I'm getting soft," she muttered. "I'm leaving. I can't do this. I can't make a friend. I can't have a home. Maybe it's just not for me."

She took some of his food, a Pokéball in case she got in trouble, and put it in her backpack. She took a blanket as well, and began to walk out.

On her way out, she glanced back at Ash. "Thank you." she whispered, and ran away from his 'home' as fast as she could.

As she traveled up the mountain, she realized she could do just about anything. She jumped onto the wall, and ran straight up the mountain, jumping over ledges and could levitate a little and move around when she encountered a tree. A horizontal tree.

Woah, she thought. This is getting weird.

She traveled for a few hours, but she still wasn't getting anywhere. She could see the tip of the cliff in the distance, but it seemed to move with her. When she moved forward, it moved forward, when she moved back, it moved back with her.

"Shoot," she sighed. "I should turn back, and I guess I'll have to go and ask Ash how to leave."

She turned back, but she couldn't see anything. It was all a thicket of fog. She ran through it, and half an hour later, she had made no progress. Was she traveling in circles?

Her legs gave out, and she sat on the floor. She felt as if the fog was choking her throat, and her breathing became shallow. She looked around, and began to cry.

"GOD!" she screamed. "FOR ALL I'VE BEEN THROUGH, YOU DO THIS TO ME?!"

She had heard about these types of stories. The people get lost, they wander for days, and to finish it off, they go crazy.

And why in the world was she crying? She had been through much, much worse than this, and she had never CRIED!

Right, she had been through much worse than this. She had always found a loophole, found a way out of everything. She needed to find a-

"Excuse me, dear?" a raspy voice whispered through her ear.

Her throat constricted. She didn't want to look around, but she had to, she had to, she-

A hand clamped onto her shoulder, and she shot up, spun around, and yelled, "YES?!"

She wished she hadn't. The figure above her was almost a corpse, except for the fact that it was moving. It was dressed with rags, and smelled a - a hundred- a hundred- one hundred and fifty-three years old!

"The diaries!"

The corpse-thing didn't seem to hear her. It kept trying to catch her eyes, but she couldn't bring herself to look at it. It leaned it her face, but she closed her eyes, and asked, "How old are you?"

It's breath smelled like rotting organs. She tried not to pass out as it said, "Three hundred eighty-eight. What does it matter, my dear?"

"Are you lost?" she asked.

"No, but are you?" it tried to pin her to the ground, but she fought against it. It was her height, so she was able to kick it away.

"How old are you, really?"

"Three hundred eighty-eight. What does it matter, my dear?"

"How. Old. Are. You."

"Three hundred-thirteen. I'm thirteen. No, I'm three hundred-thirteen. NO! I AM THREE HUNDRED EIGHTY-EIGHT! I AM THIRTEEN! I am thirteen. I am-NO! I AM-"

It had not realized that Dawn had taken out her water bottle, and it wailed as she threw water on it.

She picked up her backpack, and ran. No matter how far she ran, she could still hear it's wailing, and kept her head turned in it's direction and-

"Ow!" She tumbled onto Ash, and started laughing hysterically. "Where-where WERE you?! I can't even begin-"

"Where were you? I mean, you find out that this place is magical, and then you go prancing off into the unknown! I mean, seriously, you could have gotten hurt, or even killed! Don't do that ever again, I can't deal with losing someone, especially a friend like you!"

They stared at each other for a few minutes, then realized that they were in a awkward/romantic position. They jumped away from each other, and Dawn blushed.

Why am I blushing? Dawn sighed. "Can you find your way home?"

"Yup, it was hard at first, but once the mountain gets to know you, you'll have no problem getting back. We're actually, like, twenty feet away."

"What? Really? Well, we should get back."

"Yeah…"

"Yeah…"

They gathered their things, and made their way home (while walking several, unromantic feet away from each other).