Until the Day, Chapter 4
Ash wasn't sure if he was seeing correctly. It was too bright, and covering his eyes with his hands did not dim the blinding lights. The large pokemon moved closer to Ash, bowing his horns while the trainer groaned,
"You...can help me?" Ash grunted back, blinking while he stared, the light didn't seem to hurt his eyes like it should have, and while the pain was still there; hope masked it. Xerneas could help him?
"...To give life, you must understand life." the pokemon replied, earning a scrunched face from the trainer who shook his head back and forth.
"What does that mean?" Ash asked, he hated riddles, but it appeared that Xerneas had no intention of giving Ash and easy answer; rather, Ash felt a sudden spell of dizziness.
The feeling of falling washed over his entire body, tugged at every corner of his body while he drifted quietly into a new one; some place far, far away from the alleyway where he sat, and the glowing pokemon.
Instead, he faced what looked like Misty. She sat on a lounge chair, flipping through a repetitive girl's magazine, and Ash blinked tiredly at her.
"Misty?" Ash called out to her, but she gave no reply other than the turning of a page. She inhaled, then exhaled, and looked upward at Ash. His heart thundered in his chest, and words tempted to fall out by the bundles. What could he say to her? She looked fairly upset, with her hair tied back in a side pony-tail; a fashion she let go of in her late...teens. Why was she wearing her hair like that again?
Suddenly, from behind him, Daisy, Lily and Violet walked right through him, not around, through him. The sensation of being hit filled his chest, and Ash shuddered while the three of them held fans and wore gaudy sunglasses. Misty wasn't glaring at him, she was glaring at them! She couldn't see him! What was this? Where was he? What was he seeing?
"Xerneas?" Ash called out, expecting to hear from the pokemon, though only the sound of Misty's sisters talking answered.
"Misty?" He called to her again, but again, no reply and she settled back into her chair, and pursed her lips in that 'I'm not going to listen to a thing you say, but go ahead' way that only Misty could nail.
"You have some nerve, Misty. Like, we're gym leaders, too, you know!" Daisy's voice boomed, though her heels, miniskirt and crop-top in contrast to Misty's white one-piece swimsuit begged the difference of status.
Then Misty sighed, stood up and strolled to her sisters. Her best attempt at staying calm, and finally, Ash recalled what was happening. Misty looked eighteen, because she was eighteen. This was a memory! Ash vaguely remembered this. Misty had taken over the gym as the sole leader; but he didn't know her sisters were upset about it. Brock had mentioned once that Misty's sisters moved, but he never knew the reason.
"Well, you three, if you were part of the gym leaders, you would be doing your share of the work..." Misty started logically, but Lily butt in.
"No way! You're just greedy and ungrateful!"
"I am not!" Misty hissed, moving forward with a scowl and stomping her foot. "You three have been taking money from the gym and I can't make money if you keep spending it. I'm tired of not getting any help around here!" She shrieked in frustration.
"Then maybe you shouldn't be the gym leader if you can't handle it." Lily cooed angrily.
"Hey!" Misty snapped, shooting from her chair to point directly at Violet. "I wasn't the one that called and begged me to come back, now was I?! If it wasn't for you, I could still be-" Misty paused, reeling back and smacking her lips. She didn't need to defend herself, Misty's statistics the last few years in comparison to her sisters spoke loud enough; Misty was the only reason the gym was still open.
"The point is, I can't afford to take care of you three and run the gym. You need to learn to take care of yourselves and have some responsibility at some point." Misty pressed her hands together. "So don't make a big stink over this."
The request fell on deaf ears, and her sisters were furious. "No, Misty, this is too far; you can't just do whatever you like!" Lily shouted ignorantly, throwing her hands up.
"We just came by to, like, let you know we took our stuff. Have fun running the gym on your own!" violet snapped while Misty took an appropriate step back and winced with her face screwing up. The redhead looked up at Daisy who had remained quiet through the worst of the argument, though looked away shamefully and Ash watched as Misty's head hung low, her face paled, and she fell backwards onto her lounge chair with a defeated sigh. Misty's hands tangled into her hair and she breathed, looking up at the sky.
She looked so beaten, so tired and old at such a young age, he had no idea she went through this break up with her sisters. They always had a rocky relationship, and even though Misty claimed she and her sisters didn't get a long; she loved them... Watched her tired face, Ash reached out to her when she suddenly lunged forward and threw the magazine she had been holding into the pool and screamed violently in frustration, startling Ash who watched his best friend tear up in anger.
"I don't need you anyways!" Misty finally bellowed back at her sisters, turning to where Ash had been standing. He took an unsteady step backwards, and exhaled bitterly while she swallowed, and fell back down onto her seat.
"...Misty.." He tried, though the very moment he touched her shoulder and blinked, when his eyes opened again; he was standing in his kitchen, holding onto Misty's shoulder who was sitting at the kitchen table, holding and ice pack to her head.
"You stay so busy!" Delia's voice cracked into the silence, smiling happily at Misty who groaned at the loud woman. "I can't believe you had time to come and see me after all. I heard the gym was going through some big changes, that you're finally taking on students!" Delia clapped watched Misty smile beneath a pained expression.
She removed the ice pack, placed it onto the table, and leaned backwards.
"Yeah, thanks." Misty hummed, looking on the kitchen window. A small silence tapered in between the two of them. Ash had no idea what he was seeing, or why he was seeing it. He didn't know Misty stopped in to see his mother normally, or ever if he wasn't around.
"You still haven't made up with your sisters yet, then?" Delia questioned warmly and Misty offered a taut shrug.
"It's been a year and they haven't talked with me, I think they're past making up." Misty growled, sipping on the glass of water Delia placed before her, then took a seat. Delia tucked her hands below her legs and then smiled at Misty sweetly while she tapped her foot.
"I'm sure he will be here any minute. He always comes home after the end of a league." Delia spoke quickly, breaking the tension, Misty exhaled. Ash saw on the clock that it was already a quarter after nine, and felt his stomach twist.
"...No, it's okay. I'm going to go home." Misty rose from her seat, shoulders a little lower than they should have been, a little more wilted than she normally was. Her hair was down, cut short into a bob and she smiled at Delia.
"Well, I'm sure that-"
"Delia... really, it's okay... just, I'll see him...later." Misty muttered, smiling a forced smile at Delia. Delia didn't return the sentiment, instead, she stared on with a frown.
"...Drive safely." Ash watched while his mother's eyes fell to the floor, flipping the ice pack misty held against her head between her fingers and exhaling quietly as Misty moved to leave.
"I will." Misty tossed back thoughtlessly while she exited the house, looking up at the dark sky.
It was winter in Kanto, and since they were so far south, snow wasn't as common. Ash remembered this year, because the year when the snow reached Misty's knees was the same year he won his first league. He never told his mother, that the reason he couldn't fly down was because of the storm; but he vaguely remembered partying with the rest of his companions after the victory of champion, the first win that would make him eligible for the Master's cup. It was the beginning of the rest of his life, and he was celebrating it a million miles away.
He never called.
Ash didn't even know that Misty was there, or why she was there. Well, he could imagine why she was there; Ash just won the league; she probably wanted to send her congratulations. However, he questioned why she just didn't visit him at the league, instead of waiting at his house. She could have called him, or sent a letter; or even met him there, yet, here she was, trudging through knee deep snow, back to her vehicle parked near the train station.
Ash followed her, his incorporeal body skimming through the snow while she struggled, swearing under her breath the entire way to the station. She was so angry and upset; it couldn't have just been because of him, could it?
"Why am I always the one going out of my way?" She grunt, confirming his suspicions.
"You weren't." Ash replied, though knew it wouldn't make a difference.
"Would it kill anyone else to visit me? No one notices when I succeed!" Misty snapped, kicking some snow off her heels while she stepped onto a clear road. She inhaled bitterly, her blue car only a few feet away from her while she flicked strands of her hair out of her face.
"Why wouldn't you say anything to me? I'm sorry you felt this way, Misty." Ash asked bitterly, when suddenly she turned around and faced him; eyes cold.
"Not since you left." Misty hissed, seconds before Ash's stomach felt sick and twisted, and he fell to his knees, clutching his stomach while the scene changed; the sound of euphoric music danced in the background while he looked up to see that they were at his celebration party now; only after the accident.
Ash remembered staring at her for the rest of the night, almost willing her to have a horrible time; never knowing that she actually had. She sat near the water fountain; tongue in cheek and mind raging. After everything she went through for them—him! They were supposed to be friends, and this was how he treated her after a years of absence? How asinine! Ash could see it now, the spite decorating her face; years now since her sisters left, more since Ash last visited, and twice as long since she left him originally. Sometimes, age turned us into wonderful, matured people; but all age had turned Misty into was a bitter woman.
And bitter woman didn't always play nice. Georgio, who spent the majority of the party walking around, flaunting his personality made Ash sick; to think that he and Misty dated made him queasy even now; Ash remembered that originally, watching them made his stomach churn; now, he wanted to scream apologies at her until her past could understand them.
"Do you think that maybe you should explain to him that we're not dating? You know, so you can hang around your friends again instead of sulking over here?" Georgio asked, handing her a glass of wine that she smacked out of his hand. The room didn't flutter, or stagger at her outburst, no one noticed her rage. No one cared. Except for Ash, who was forced to watch her, and himself and his friends go about the party as if nothing happened. Now, he felt the dagger in his stomach turn. All of this started over a misunderstanding.
"If he's going to act like a spoiled brat then he can act like one! I'm done catering to them!" She yelled quietly, Gerogio flinched and took a worried step back.
"Sorry... I just don't think you should let this get to you so much. I'm sure if you explained it would blow over..."
The fancy wine glass she held cracked at the base from her grasp and she exhaled pridefully. "I don't want it to blow over. I don't want any of this." her hateful gaze fell on Ash who laughed happily alongside Dawn, and Brock and Serena, and his friends, all of theme except her.
"Clearly, he thinks he's doing great without me; obviously he doesn't need me." She spat, venom in her tone. "So if he wants to be a jerk, he can be a jerk. I'm tired of waiting for people who are supposed to be my friends." She inhaled through her nose, then exhaled through her mouth then released her wine glass from her grasp and then looked at Georgio politely, calmly.
"...Actually, I think I'm just going to go." She shrugged her shoulders, waving slightly to the flamboyant man who's chipper personality washed into uncertainty andw orry.
"Wait, Misty, don't do this; some times things happen between friends."
"Right, like calling each other. Please, we haven't been friends for a long time and I..." her eyes turned to Ash, not his past self, but him, watching her reaction with an a gape mouth as she looked to the ground sullenly.
"I don't need them." She said confidently with a broken heart when she looked at Georgio who could only spare his deepest sympathies with an earnest, brave apology.
"I'll see you around the gym sometime, okay? Take care and thanks again for coming with me. It really helped me see more clearly." Misty said with a forced smile as she turned, heels clicking against the fancy concrete and heading directly toward the exit through the garden.
Ash's heart fell into his stomach as he ran after her. "Wait!" He called, though his voice left no echo, no sound in this memory. "I need you! I do! Brock needs you, your sisters need you! We're friends! Misty! I'm sorry!" Ash yelled, ignoring Misty's own blind stubbornness. She couldn't hear him though; that opportunity had passed.
Both reacted terrible, they should have both apologized back then—said something to one another, been the friends that they were supposed to be... yet, he let her walk out of his life, not once, but twice.
"Don't leave!" Ash yelled into the abyss while darkness swallowed her. It was funny how little an apology meant in hindsight. If Ash could have, would have known, or saw... he might have reacted differently; but it was true. They, he and Misty, outside of the occasional 'hi' didn't talk, not really, before that moment at the party. What kind of friendship was that?
Ash's knees felt weak, and his chest hurt. "I'm sorry, okay? I'm sorry." Ash mumbled into the darkness that swallowed him up; absorbing all of the bright light that formerly blinded him. For a moment, when silence danced around his collapsed body; he thought he would finally wake up from this nightmare, from these memories that only reminded him how long and harrowed their past was; outside of the fights, the arguments, they had problems far greater than either would have ever admit to. Problems that they should have worked out, not because he liked her, but because they were friends.
Ash shuddered, feeling tears pull at the corners of his eyes, but in his current form, he could shed no tears; feel nothing but his own soul ripping his guts to tiny little pieces, and so when he looked up to see her seated on a bench outside, he wondered if he was finally given a break.
Then she sighed, and looked up at him—past him.
"Misty." The dark-blond woman called to Misty, stepping through Ash's figure while she approached the redhead. Serena's voice was muddled, a little disoriented while she shifted the pink hems of her dress, and fished the frills to the side while she approached Misty, who sat in a slim fitted, A-shaped emerald green gown. Ash remembered that gown, only because it was the last gown he ever saw her in at a league party.
"Can I talk with you?" Serena asked, clearing her throat. Misty shrugged.
"Sure." Misty smacked her lips together. "Did 'ya want to add into your boyfriends little tirade of immaturity and mash my name into the dirt a little more with a little song and dance?" She asked sarcastically, a small smile playing on her red lips and Ash had to cover his face in shame. Ash never intentionally spoke ill about Misty; sometimes it just slipped out when he would see her, away from him happy.
"...No." Serena hummed, faced lowered. "Ash...he isn't my boyfriend." Serena sighed, "but that isn't the point; I just—whatever happened between you two, you should talk about it." She offered but Misty waved the blonde off while standing up.
"Friends grow apart sometimes, it happens." Misty assured Serena once she was sure the female wasn't going to hassle her.
"Right, but they don't avoid each other and insult one another constantly." Serena scolded with a slight scowl—nothing that rivaled the tomboyish mermaids perpetual scowl, however. "You know. I don't care what happened; but I do care about Ash and he's only like this around you." Serena declared. "So why can't you two work it out like normal people?"
Well, mostly because Ash and Misty weren't normal. Their friendship was never normal. In fact, many people would have argued it was borderline toxic, abusive. Misty, knowing what she knew now, wouldn't argue with that.
"Whyyyyy, don't you mind your own business?" Misty chirped, shrugging her shoulders hostile. "I don't need Ash anymore; we haven't been friends in a long time; I've out grown him. He's out grown me. Let it go." With that, Misty hotly turned, flicked a wrist at Serena who folded her arms unhappily while Misty stalked off, back to the last party she would attend simultaneously with Ash. His heart bled; he didn't know Serena tried talking with Misty here, too. Back then, she opened the night by talking with Ash about the same issue.
Ash never said he outgrew Misty, just that he was busy, and in a better place. Ash could do what ever her wanted now, and he could battle, and train, and with his title, he had a ton of research opportunities with different regions. Simply put, he had no intention of letting his grudge go; not until she apologized first. It was silly, and stupid and Ash knew that now, but back then; he thought his anger was justified, that his grudge was normal.
It wasn't, and apparently she was as equal parts stubborn as he was.
Knowing that she held the same grudge against him, for no reason other than pure, stubborn pride; he felt a wash of guilt cross into his pained chest.
Misty was going to die thinking he hated her, that they weren't friends; that he abandoned her... His body felt icy coming to terms.
Misty was going to die.
But the memories weren't over yet; not until Misty was sitting in a hospital room; wearing a gown, and looking sicker than the normal-peppy Misty was. She held her phone in her hand, texting to her lover her fiance that she was in the hospital—but more notable was her apparent distaste and anguish that she was here in the start.
Ash never asked how the two of the met; Brock told him that her fiance was the lawyer who defended the gym, and Misty against the lawsuit that Misty's sisters tried to poach the gym with. They didn't know each other for very long before deciding that he was perfect, or maybe she was just really lonely?
Regardless, they moved fast. He brought her flowers, complimented her even when she wasn't dressed up, and was always there.
At first, anyways.
What started as a simple fling blew out of proportion; Misty missed a few league parties for the trial, and during that time, somehow ended up engaged; if Ash's memory was correct. It wasn't just the engagement that prevented her from showing her face, it was the reports circling around her leadership as a gym leader, as well. Her sisters hurt her reputation, but luckily, her reputation was solid; and her soon-to-be husband played a large role in that. The night after Ash's last meeting with her which ended in discarded roses, Misty made the public announcement that she was engaged.
During the interview announcement, while he, her fiance seemed engaged with the conversation and excited, Misty seemed distracted during the conversation, almost like she wished she could be anywhere else.
Yet, instead of seeing happiness, seeing her smiling about their relationship; he watched her sit and type, and groan in a small, private room. Ash couldn't be sure, but the way her hand clutched her stomach; he knew that severe pain coursed through her lower abdomen while she chewed a hole through her bottom lip. Ash wanted to reach out to her, to ask if she was okay; but he knew better by now, and merely sunk to the corner of the room, and waited for what this memory would show him.
When the doctor walked in to take a seat beside Misty, she grabbed the redheads hands and offered a very sincere smile. A moment of silence passed, introductions were passed, and then the doctor started speaking.
"I'm sorry to tell you this, but you have..." the doctor pointed to the sheet, and Ash watched Misty's face turned green. "...We'll start treatments right away, but we will need to run some tests for internal damage." the sentence hung in the air between them while Misty tried to wrap her head around what she had just been told.
Rage seeped into Ash's chest, watching a shocked Misty read through her fuzzy mind at the papers being handed to her; she never saw or knew he was cheating on her until... oh my god.
As if reading Ash's own blind fury, the scene fragmented to a matching Misty, who threw objects at mc-cheats-a-lot head, and followed a barely-dressed Violet around the gym floor. Misty's hair was quite a bit longer—her image reflected close to what it was at the hospital; only neater and prettier and...not so bruised and beaten.
"I'm sorry, I won't do it again!"
"You said that last time!" Misty cursed his name, launching a lamp at him while he ducked, moving away from her.
"You slept with my sister you fucking pig!" she screamed. "You cheated on me again!"
"It was just this"
"Get out! Both of you!" Misty screamed, slamming the door closed in their faces. Ash remembered the mess that he saw in her house; and her sudden, blazing anger reflected much of that while the redhead finally cracked, and tore open her bedroom door, and raced to the closet where she ripped open her dress and folded the fabrics between her fingers.
Happy, she was supposed to be happy.
But it was impossible to be happy with a grudge, with embedded, unnecessary hatred an conflict. Misty growled with quivering lips before she pulled on the dress, tearing it down the center, ripping out the careful stitching, and beads, everything.
"Misty, stop!" Ash screamed at her; he couldn't stand it; seeing her this way. He never thought that this was the moment, following her crowning moment dictating her as the Master Cup's Water Pokemon Master, that he would get phone calls from her; angry, anguished. But his words did nothing, and she jumped from the bedroom, to her invitations, and started ripping them to tiny little pieces. Tears swelled at the corners of her eyes, followed silently by her sobs until she couldn't see straight.
"Stop! I don't want to see this!" Ash screamed, covering his ears and shutting his eyes. He knew Misty had happy moments! She was friends with Erica; she made public news announcements; she was reigned and adored as a gym leader, and was friendly to people. Ash saw it, he heard about it and he remembered that he hated knowing that she was so happy.
Of course, there was a face for everything; but Misty's life was nothing different. Only now, he wanted her to be happy, to have happiness; to feel joy, and goodness, and damn it; what was wrong with them that dying was the only eye opener they had. He left her, and she left him.
At least, together, they made truly a terrible pair.
When Ash finally had the courage to open his eyes again, he was sitting beside Misty in her car; listening to the sound of music droning quietly in the background while she stared into the intense, dying sun.
She called him a few times; called everyone, anyone that would listen to her.
Ash, this is stupid. Let's not fight. I'm sorry. Was the message she left last on his phone. He thought it was a trick. Some kind of joke that she would finally apologize especially after a few messages of blind rage being poured out over the receiver.
However, her phone was dead on the dashboard now, hidden by the suns early rays, and she exhaled quietly.
"I guess it's better this way." She said to herself. She had no one she had to please, or rely on; hell, she didn't even look surprised that she was here. This was bound to happen; but it still hurt. It put things, ideas, interests, situations; everything into perspective. Humans were stupid; she was stupid, and this entire situation sucks. So she thumbed her phone and willed it to turn on again, so she could apologize to her friends—even those that didn't deserve it. Even Ash.
"I just wanted my own life..." She sighed, rubbing strands of her hair out of her face. Ash watched quietly while she exhaled, and turned the engine on.
Ash realized right away what he was watching about to watch while she turned over the engine, and shifted gears into drive. His breath left him.
"Misty, don't!" he yelled, trying to stop her; he reached for the steering wheel, but his hands fell through it. "Don't drive, it's okay; no one hates you; just... Don't!"
they turned the street corner where Ash knew the accident would happen while Misty slowly smiled, accepting what this was, what was happening. She could only get better from here.
But Ash couldn't watch.
"Don't make me watch this!" He screamed, covering his eyes long enough for time to stop. At first, he didn't realize until his pounding chest became the only noise in the area, and he turned to watch her eyebrows knit; she made eye contact with the driver ahead of her, and his stomach lurched. In his best attempt, Ash tried to grab her, move her. Anything, but when that wouldn't work; he looked around. Maybe, if he changed something, he could still save her.
Ash slipped out of the car with the intention of using the frozen time as his advantage to find her safety; but the moment his sneaker touched the concrete; breaking windows and fracturing car parts echoed through his ears and he spun around and screamed; though his voice was masked by the clear destruction surrounding him. His ears rang and he shook his head in disbelief, blinked his eyes while a piece of shrapnel flew through his transparent torso and he whined grievously.
"Why would you should me this?" Ash asked to no one in particular as the scene unfolded, the way the people in the news papers described.
"Do you still think you could have saved her?" Xerneas' voice finally answered Ash's call. The boy spun to look for the godly pokemon, though he was faced with nothing but the chaos on the street.
"Yes!" Ash answered immediately, of course he could save her. He was Ash frickin' Ketchum!
"She was self-destructive, prideful. What difference could you have made?"
Ash threw up his arms. "Stop with the mind games!" he screamed. "Can you help me or not?!"
At his demand, Light engulfed Ash once more, and the pokemon master flinched, covering his eyes.
"As you wish." The pokemon chanted. "I will restore to you, her time."
"And what do you want in return!?" Ash screamed back, though no answer came as he felt his entire body go numb.
Your life.
Author's Note:
NEXT CHAPTER is happy though. Happy-ish, for sure.
Sorry if you feel like this is angsty; it comes with the territory; can't please everyone!
Explaining the 'lovey-doveiness'(?) of Ash thus far; I wouldn't say he's lovey-dovey as much as he is devastated and unable to accept what has happened. Needing to save a friend is not synonymous with 'lovey-dovey'. Plus, DERRMAAA.
I decided to leave whatever 'disease' Misty contracted a mystery. Much like the fiance's name.
A huge apology for having this up late. (I got a new job that has been eating up a lot of my time) I've had the chapter written for awhile, but I, well, her reasoning/the flashbacks which I originally liked a whole lot didn't make a lot of sense, they all seemed like mediocre things; so I wrote it as if Misty was getting in the way of herself. Just going to post the chapters as I finish them up today. So hopefully will get two or three up for the few weeks that I've missed.
I've also been super focused on Locked Away as of late. I have some obscure idea to finish it before September 9. XD;
THANK YOU for all the love this short story is getting. -hearts- thank you thank you thank you.
NINT