I actually got the idea for this one-shot from the movie Contagion. I haven't seen the movie, but I'm assuming the concept is a little similar.

Story of Barry (CollideShipping)

Ash treaded slowly down the long, dark hallway. The lights were as dim; there was really no purpose to them being on if they didn't illuminate much anyway. The raven-haired boy's steps grew heavier the further he walked. His destination was the last door at the very end. This was going to take awhile.

He didn't need to carefully observe his surroundings. Every eight steps was a steel door, one on the right, then the left, and back to the right again. Ash knew what was behind those doors. Maybe not who was behind them, but the scenery was more or less the same no matter which door you stepped into.

He was dreading being here yet again. Why did it have to come to this?

Because the epidemic was getting worse. People were catching the disease at a much faster rate, and it seemed inevitable that about half of the population of the Pokémon world was about to be wiped out if scientists couldn't find a cure for it.

The disease—which had recently been given the name of Johto Plague due to where it originated before spreading to other regions—came from out of nowhere; literally, no one could figure out how it started or where it came from. A little girl was the first victim, the disease entering her bloodstream and killing her within the week. Next was her mother, then her mother's friend… Within a month, the disease spread throughout half of the Pokémon world, even hitting as far as the Isshu region.

In order to try to contain the disease as much as possible, anyone affected had to be immediately sent to a facility where they had to sit in a closed-off room surrounded by thick steel walls and one large Plexiglas wall. The Plexiglas wall was for family members and friends of the victim that could visit them before the disease took their life. Once the disease was caught, the person had between three to seven days before they died. There was no hope once the disease hit you.

That was the sad fate of many of Ash's friends.

May was first. She had been in Johto to participate in contests and was one of the first victims of the disease. Ash didn't even have time to say goodbye to her, as she died within three days.

Casey, Sakura, Harrison… People Ash had become close with over his journey in the Johto region were gone before he knew it.

His next closest friend was Iris. Ash had traveled back to Kanto from Isshu when he heard the news of May's death, bringing along Iris and Cilan with him. He couldn't go directly into the Johto region for the borders had been closed off so he went to the next closest place, his home region.

Before anyone could see it coming, Iris's blood began to literally boil and she contracted flu-like symptoms after the first day of being in Kanto. Those were the signs of catching the Johto Plague. Ash and Cilan visited her everyday, until the sixth day when she passed away.

Everyday, Ash heard of another one of his friends catching the disease. Misty, Paul, Bianca, Max, Ritchie, Tory, Angie, Tracey… People were dying left and right. After awhile, Ash had cried so much over the loss of his friends that he just couldn't cry anymore. He couldn't even really feel any other emotion besides nonchalance at this point.

The rest of Ash's best friends—Brock, Gary, Drew, Dawn, Barry, Lyra, and Cilan—had all grouped together in Kanto. They had all promised that if there were to be no cure then they would all stay together with one another until the end.

Ash couldn't smile anymore, but he was glad to have all of his friends with him. It was hard imagining that surely within time all of them would be dead, but Ash tried to make the best of it.

He didn't want to pick favorites, but out of all of his friends, there was one of them that stood out among the others as having a closer relationship with Ash. He wasn't sure how to explain it, but he was just more drawn to this friend than the rest.

And he wasn't going to have much time to figure it out what it meant, once he discovered this particular friend was next to catch the disease.

Ash finally reached the end of the long hallway to the very last door. He took a deep breath, trying to hold back emotions that he hadn't been able to feel for several weeks.

Today was the seventh day, meaning that, unless this friend could beat some incredible odds, this was the last day Ash could see them. He had woken up very early today to make sure that he could spend the entire day with them. If that person happened to die in front of him, he wanted to be there to hear their last words.

He pressed his palm to a large fading brown button next to the door, allowing the steel door to creak open slowly. Once he stepped in, the door closed shut behind him.

Ash was now in a cramped little room; the door he walked in was to his right, more steel was behind him and above, and a large Plexiglas wall in front of him. Another steel door with a handle on it was to his left. Behind the Plexiglas was another larger room that looked like a normal bedroom, besides the oddly placed steel walls and the toilet and sink in the corner. There was a dresser, a bed, a bookshelf with magazines and manga, and a computer. There was also the single occupant sitting cross-legged on the floor with his back to the Plexiglas, his head full of blond hair bobbing every few seconds. His elbows were sticking out of his orange and white striped shirt, his green scarf slung backwards behind him. Ash assumed he was playing his DS, probably that addicting racing game Kenny had bought him for his birthday.

Ash turned to the red button with a speaker on it next to the Plexiglas. It was connected to the other room so that he could talk to the person. He pressed the button and opened his raspy voice to speak.

"Barry."

He watched Barry nearly jump out of his skin when he heard Ash's voice. He spun around and stood up, the shock on his face evident. Ash noticed him turn the blue DS in his hand off and set it on the floor.

"Ash!" Barry shouted, Ash still surprised to find out that he sounded as healthy as ever. He guessed even a killer disease couldn't tear Barry's hyper nature down. His blond rival rushed over to the Plexiglas. "It's not even seven in the morning! What are you doing here so early?"

"I…" Ash didn't want to point out the fact that it was supposedly Barry's last day alive. He decided to avoid the question. "I'm just surprised that you're even up this early."

"Are you kidding? I couldn't sleep! I unlocked a new area on my game and I can't beat the boss! There are so many traps to avoid; I spent all night trying to beat it! Argh!" Barry stomped his foot.

Ash wasn't sure how to feel about Barry's behavior. He was glad that Barry was still his usual self instead of letting the sickness get to him, but he didn't like that Barry acted like the disease didn't even exist. But Ash guessed that was better than continuing to be depressed about it. It would just be even that much harder when Barry finally…

Ash shook his head. He needed to focus on giving Barry all of his attention. "I'm sorry," Ash said monotonous. He still couldn't smile.

"Ah, it's fine," Barry was grinning from ear to ear. It was making Ash feel bad that he couldn't return it. "So, what's up? How's everyone else?"

"They're fine," Ash said. Yesterday, the rest of Ash's friends came to visit Barry. They were all just as surprised as Ash that Barry was still so hyper. But because of Barry's happy attitude, everyone had a good time instead of feeling it necessary to sulk and be upset.

"Awesome!" Barry said. His smile suddenly faulted. "H-how's the outside world? I kinda miss it. This room isn't big enough to run around in."

"As dark and gloomy as ever," Ash didn't want to be so negative about it, but he didn't want to lie to Barry, either.

Barry just blinked and looked down at the ground. "Oh. Well, that was a dumb question."

There was an awkward silence for a moment, but Ash wasn't sure what to say. He wanted his last day with Barry to be memorable, but he had something very important to say to him and he wasn't sure how he was going to go about it.

If he didn't say something now, though…

"Barry," Ash placed his hands on the Plexiglas, waiting for Barry to look at him.

"Huh?" Barry raised his head, his orange eyes staring directly into Ash's brown ones. He noticed Ash's palms on the glass and scratched his head.

"I have something I want to tell you."

"Sure, anything!" Barry said. Ash's hands twitched and he bit his lip. For the first time in a few weeks, he actually felt tears welling up. "Ash, what's wrong?" Barry frowned.

"Barry, you are a very close friend of mine. You are also a rival, but…a very close friend…"

"Of course!" Barry grinned. "I'm glad you're my friend! And, honestly…" he paused and scratched his chin nervously. "I-I was actually hoping that you could be the last person I see before I…y'know…"

Ash gasped. This was the first time that Barry had mentioned death at all since he had been put in here. And then Ash took in all of what he said.

"Y-you want me to be…?" he couldn't finish the sentence. Barry nodded.

"Yes, Ash. You're a very close friend of mine as well," Ash could barely breathe when Barry put his hands up to the glass opposite of Ash's own hands. Barry chuckled and grinned widely.

"B-Barry…" Ash spoke softly.

"Was that all you had to say?" Barry asked. "You look so sad. Will you miss me that much?"

Ash couldn't help it as his tears finally spilled over. "Of course I will, Barry! You mean…you mean more to me than all of my friends!"

Barry's eyes widened. "What?"

"Barry, I—!" Ash stopped and clenched his fists against the glass. "I really like you, Barry… I-I can't really explain how I feel, but I've always noticed it was different from how I felt about Brock or May or Dawn or anyone else!"

Barry blinked a few times, then closed his eyes and placed his forehead on the glass. Ash did the same, cursing the Plexiglas for being in the way of them actually touching.

"Ash…" Barry slowly opened his eyes. "I like you, too."

They didn't speak for a few minutes, the only sounds being Ash's choked sobs. It was terrible enough to have to watch all of his friends die, and now it had gotten to Barry. Ash almost wished the disease would just hit him already. He couldn't stand to have to lose any more friends.

The thought of losing Barry crushed him. He just wanted to hug him and squeeze him and never let him go until he passed away in his arms. Even if it meant catching the disease, it didn't matter. No one had a cure for it anyway and it was spreading like wildfire. It wouldn't be long until he would eventually catch it anyway…

Ash's eyes widened. He glanced over at the door to his left, the one with the handle. It was the only way into the room, opened only when the staff dressed in their funny-looking suits, worn so that they don't contract the disease, enter in order to give the occupant food. Remembering what Misty had told him awhile back, there's no handle or anything to open the door from the other side. But from Ash's side…

"Barry," Ash dropped his hands from the glass and was now staring at the door into Barry's room. Barry glanced over and frowned.

"Ash, what is it?"

"I want…to…hold you…"

Barry shook his head. "But you can't…"

"Nothing is impossible, Barry," Ash began walking over to the door. Barry suddenly caught on.

"Ash, no! Don't open it!" Barry rushed over to the door and threw his body against it.

"Barry, I'm going to get the disease eventually anyway! Why not get it now?"

"Ash, you could get lucky and live so much longer than me! They could find a cure before you get it! Would you really give that up?"

"For you, yes!"

Barry paused. He wasn't sure what else to say. Now he felt tears begin to well up in his eyes. "A-Ash…"

"Let me open the door, Barry. Please."

Barry wiped the tears from his eyes. As much as he didn't want Ash to catch the disease, he did have a point. It was hopeless. People were dropping like flies at a ridiculous rate. Even if they found a cure soon, it would take a very long time before they could even get enough to save everyone.

And…he wanted more than just for Ash to be the last person he saw. He wanted to hug him and cry in his arms, to finally tell him how scared he actually was about dying.

He sniffled, then finally stepped back from the door. "I-I love you, Ash…"

"I love you, too, Barry…" Ash grabbed the handle.

The door slowly creaked open.