The next day, May slowly woke up with Glaceon curled up and sleeping next to her. She sat up and yawned, stretching out her limbs. Glaceon's ears perked up and she too slowly opened her eyes, catching May's attention.

"Morning Glaceon." she greeted her friend.

"Gla." Glaceon smiled. She licked May's cheek and the teen gave a small laugh as Glaceon nuzzled her.

"Thanks for trying to cheer me up, girl." May said genuinely as she stroked Glaceon's head. She glanced over at her nightstand clock and saw it was about mid-morning now. And after everything that had happened over the past week, she wasn't sure what to do with her Saturday. "I'm tired of making all the decisions. What do you think we should do today Glaceon?"

"Glace!" Glaceon smiled before proceeding to stretch her body out, indicating they should take the day to relax.

"Good idea. After everything that's gone down this week, I need a breather." May agreed. Glaceon smiled and nodded in approval. With that decided, May relaxed into the beanbag chair in her room and grabbed her laptop. Glaceon cuddled into her lap and purred, making May smile. Glaceon used to do the same thing when she was an Eevee. And although she was bigger now and didn't fit as well as she used to, it still brought her a lot of comfort. "Thanks, Glaceon…"

"Glad?"

"For being the same old Pokémon…" she clarified. Glaceon smiled and nuzzled in as May turned on her laptop and browsed her media for something to watch. "Let's see…what to watch?"

"Gla glaceon." Glaceon suggested as she pointed to a movie on the screen, one May recognized as one that was scheduled to come out last month.

"Oh right, the new Gligar Man movie came out last month. It looked really good." she remembered.

"Eon!" Glaceon nodded. With a small smile, May hit play and settled in to watch the movie as Glaceon watched with her.

Well into the movie, May found herself far less relaxed than she was hoping for. One of the reasons she was a fan of the Gligar Man movies was the fact that the hero, Gligar Man, reminded her so much of Ash. He was strong, heroic, and would do anything for those he cares about, especially the woman he loved. And watching the movie just made her miss him even more.

"Oh, Arcues I wish that girl was me…" she muttered as she watched the two leads embrace and kiss one another, catching Glaceon's attention.

"Glace?" the ice fox asked as she tilted her head curiously.

"Able to just be yourself…and be with the one you love without any complications…any barriers…any secrets…" she explained as she began to tear up. "I had that with Ash…and now I don't even remember it…and it feels like I'll never get it back…"

"Glace on on gla." Glaceon insisted as she pointed her paw to a framed picture of her and Ash on her desk. Following her direction, May got up from her seat and walked over, picking up the framed photo and looked at it carefully. In the frame, she saw a picture she remembered taking over the summer. It was the two of them at the pool one afternoon with her in his arms bridal style, laughing as he held her there even as she tells him to put her down. May couldn't help but tear up as she looked at the photo and Glaceon drooped her ears low.

"Why are you pushing me away Ash…?" Glaceon climbed out of the beanbag chair and cautiously walked over to her.

"Gla…" she whispered as she nuzzled her partner sadly and May cried. It was then that an explosion in the movie caught her attention, making her look away from the picture and back toward the screen.

Gligar Man flew quickly towards a crumbling bridge as the woman he loved fell towards a raging sea. Just in the nick of time, he swooped in and caught her, saving her life.

"Oh Gligar Man!" she gasped.

"Don't worry! I got you!" he promised her as he took her to the top of a nearby building where he gently set her down, helping her regain her footing. "Are you alright?"

"Y-Yes…" she answered.

"Thank Arceus…I don't know what I'd do if anything ever happened to you…" he sighed in relief. The woman's face turned into an expression of shock at his comment.

"You what…? But after our fight, I thought…I thought you didn't care anymore…" she explained. Gligar Man shook his head and took her hands in his.

"Can't you understand? I said those things because I care so much…I live such a dangerous life…so close to dying every single day. I thought if I could push you away from me…push you away from us…that you could live a safe life. No matter how much it hurt me to watch you with someone else…" he explained, stunning the woman.

"Gligar Man…" she whispered.

"Please do this for me…just return to your normal life and forget us. Live the long and happy life you're destined for." he begged her. She was silent for a few moments, before finally responding to his plea.

"You're such an idiot…"

"Huh…?"

"Don't you understand? I can't have any of that without you!" she yelled. "That happy life that you want me to have doesn't exist without you! You are my best friend, my love, my everything! You can't just ask me to live my life without you because you are my life!"

"But-" she cut him off with a passionate kiss and caught him off guard. After a moment to process what had happened, Gligar Man slowly began to kiss her back, holding her close and deepening the kiss. After a few moments, both of them pulled away for air, panting softly.

"I love you…and I will accept any risk as long as I get to be with you…" she whispered.

May's internal conflict began to fade as she watched the scene. Slowly, everything began to become clear. Like it should have been all along. Even when she and Drew drifted apart, it never hurt like this did. Drew was a great friend and she was happy to have him back in her life...but she didn't love him. And living the rest of her life without Ash wasn't going to work. She wanted him back. She needed him.

"I'm gonna head to Ash's place." she suddenly announced as she set the picture back down on her desk. Glaceon looked at her in surprise at her sudden declaration.

"Gla?"

"It's time to end this once and for all." Glaceon smiled and nodded happily.

"Glace!" May smiled back and quickly began getting cleaned up and dressed as Glaceon ran about the room helping her.

A bit later on in the day, just a few minutes into the afternoon, May found herself standing outside Ash's front door. She had been there so many times over the years, she could recite its features from memory. But never had the sight of it brought her so much anxiety. She glanced down at her friend at her feet, and Glaceon smiled at her, giving her the last bit of confidence she needed. May took a deep breath and rang the doorbell. Some shuffling could be heard on the other side and then the door opened, revealing a younger teenage girl with short black hair and Ash's same brown eyes. The younger girl looked up at May with great surprise.

"May?" she asked.

"Hi, Luna." May greeted Ash's younger sister. "Is your brother home?"

"Yeah, he's up in his room…" Luna nodded, looking a bit hesitant to be talking to her. Though she had been expecting this kind of reaction, it still hurt May to see the younger girl shying away from her. However she wasn't going to let it get to her this time, and she pressed onwards.

"May I come in? I really need to talk with him." she requested.

"Sure...but I don't know how willing he'll be to talk…" Luna warned her as she came inside.

"Thanks for the warning, but I think I know what I'm doing." she assured the younger girl.

"If you say so…" Luna mumbled as she sweatdropped. May nodded and then proceeded to head upstairs, soon arriving at Ash's bedroom door. On the other side of the door, Ash was working on his homework as he lay on his stomach on his bed. When he heard the knock at the door, he sighed and got up.

"Luna I thought I told you I'm busy so would you please-" he opened the door and froze completely at the sight of a very familiar brunette in front of him.

"We need to talk." May said firmly. Recovering from the initial shock, Ash's eyes widened in horror as he frantically backed away from her.

"W-What are you doing here...?!" he asked with fear evident in his voice. May pushed his fears aside and stepped into his room.

"I found out about the car accident." she said bluntly, causing the fear on his face to deepen into absolute terror.

"You what...?!"

"Did you guys honestly think I wouldn't look into a huge missing chunk of my life?" she wondered, half genuinely interested in his answer. However, she received none as Ash only continued to back away from her.

"P-Please May...please just leave…" he begged her, but May continued to approach him instead.

"No I want to talk." she insisted. Ash flinched and backed into his wall, feeling trapped.

"I-I won't...!" he refused. Sensing that he was about to run, May looked down at her ice partner.

"Glaceon freeze his feet with Ice Beam!" she called.

"Gla!" Glaceon exclaimed as she fired an Ice Beam and froze Ash's feet to the ground before he could flee. Ash was shocked by the sudden move but wasn't injured.

"Ack!" he yelped.

"You're not running away from me this time Ash. Now tell me why you've done all this. What happened that night?" she demanded. Ash merely grunted and groaned in response as he struggled against the ice holding him in place.

"I won't...! I can't let it happen again...!" he answered her.

"Ash…" she whispered, holding her heart.

"You don't understand I-" he was cut off mid-sentence as May kissed him, causing him to freeze and blush bright red. Time seemed to stop around the two of them as their lips remained in contact. After a few moments, which felt like an eternity, May slowly pulled away from the kiss and looked him in the eyes, allowing him to see the hurt and pleading in her eyes.

"As mad as I am about what you've been doing…I'm even sadder to not have you…Ash, I love you so much…" she whispered. She watched as the fear in his eyes was slowly replaced with a new emotion. Guilt. Ash began to tear up as May was able to see the full burden of the guilt and fear in his eyes. It was evident that being away from her and keeping this secret had been eating him up inside almost as much as it was her. May hugged him gently just as he dissolved into tears on her shoulder. The two held each other close as Ash cried and May held him, feeling a weight being lifted off her shoulders even just being allowed to do this with him. It wasn't much, but it was something.

"You have to leave...I don't want to hurt you again…" he sobbed in between weak and shaking gasps for breath.

"Staying away from you is hurting me more than anything you could ever do…" she tried to tell him, but he only shook his head as he continued to cry.

"You don't understand…" he mumbled as he finally brought his eyes to meet her's. Looking into his eyes May could see a massive amount of pain behind them. As she watched the light reflect off the guilt and fear, along with his tears, a big realization suddenly clicked in May's head.

"…It was you…you were driving that night weren't you?" she whispered. Ash's head lowered in shame and his crying only continued.

"...Yes...I nearly got you killed...because I was too selfish and stupid…" he cried, pulling out of her grip.

"Ash I'm sure you didn't mean to…everybody makes mistakes-"

"It wasn't a mistake…! You got hurt because of me...! Because I let myself go too far...!" he yelled, turning his head away from her.

"Please Ash…you have to tell me…what happened in September?" she asked gently. Sniffling and out of options, Ash finally relented but still refused to meet her gaze.

"The first day of school...it was the start of everything…"

It was September 1st in the Ketchum household and Ash was in his room getting ready to head in. He zipped up his bag and slug it over his shoulder as he smiled at his partner, a small electric mouse who was watching from the bed.

"Alright. I'm ready." he announced. "I'm going to tell her how I feel Pikachu. No more waiting around."

"If you "forget" again I'm using Thunderbolt on you." his partner warned him.

"Not this time. I'm done being afraid. I'm going to tell May that I like her and then ask her out." he declared.

"Good. It's so obvious that you two like each other it's almost painful." he chuckled as he hopped onto Ash's shoulder.

"I certainly hope you're right." Ash chuckled as he pet Pikachu's head. "I gotta get moving. See you after school."

Ash pulled up to May's house a little while later and honked his horn. He often drove them both to school when May's parents were busy so his horn didn't bother anyone. After a moment's wait, May ran outside with her backpack and climbed into the passenger seat next to him, though she put her bag down at her feet with a slightly timid look on her face which was unusual for her.

"Uh...May? You ok?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little nervous…a-about school starting I mean!" she replied.

"I see…" he replied. He was concerned for her, but he decided not to push her and instead began driving them both to school. The car ride was unusually quiet since normally the two of them had no trouble talking about whatever came to mind. But this morning both of them seemed to be preoccupied with other thoughts. Ash considered telling her now but ultimately decided to hold off on the announcement until she was in a better mood as he pulled into the school's parking lot and they both got out of the car.

"I'll see you in Gym ok?" he offered her, but she didn't meet his gaze and just nodded.

"Yeah…" she mumbled. Worried for her, he decided to pull her into a hug, holding her close.

"It's gonna be alright." he promised her. "Whatever you're afraid of, it'll all be fine."

"Ash…" she whispered as she blushed and hugged him back, holding him close. "Thank you…"

"Anytime. See you soon." he smiled as he headed to his locker, which unlike May's was on the second floor, leaving her with a small smile.

Later that morning, as May was switching her books for her next class, she heard footsteps coming toward her. Assuming it was one of her friends, she turned around but was surprised to see none other than Drew walking over to her locker.

"Hey, May. Welcome back." he greeted her.

"Drew?" she asked, blinking in surprise. She couldn't believe he was just talking to her out of the blue this way. It had been years since they last spoke. "W-What are you doing here?"

"I just wanted to talk with you for a minute." he explained.

"About what…?" she questioned him. She watched as he seemed to take a deep breath to calm himself before answering her.

"May I know we've drifted apart but I want to change that. I want to try and rekindle something new and exciting between us. Will you go out with me?" he asked. Her eyes widened as she was literally stunned into silence.

"H-Huh…?"

"Will you go out with me?" he asked again, remaining calm and patient.

"W-Why are you…?"

"I miss you May. Our friendship should've never faded the way it did. I'd love it if we could rectify that finally." he answered.

"I-In that case…why can't it just be a friendly thing?" she stammered. He simply smiled and took her hand in his own.

"Because I care about you far more than that." he replied before kissing her gently. May froze in shock as a small blush crept onto her cheeks. She was too stunned to pull away and unfortunately for her, it was at that moment that Ash rounded the corner into the hall and gasped in shock. His voice reached May's ears and snapped her out of her trance, causing her to pull away, turn around, and became horrified to see Ash standing behind her with a hurt expression on his face.

"Ash! It's not what it looks like I swear!" she tried. Ash said nothing and only clenched the strap of his bag a bit tighter.

"You can do whatever you want May." he muttered before he walked off without another word. May felt her heart break as she turned to Drew angrily and slapped him across the face.

"Ack!" he yelped, stumbling back slightly and holding his face.

"Look what you did! I love him! And now he thinks you and I…ug!" she yelled, trying not to cry.

"May I only wanted-"

"Friends don't do that to each other!" she cut him off before she ran off down the hall, leaving Drew by himself.

May listen to Ash's story, completely stunned by the explanation. Suddenly the texts with Serena they had recovered a few days ago made sense.

"Oh, Ash…I'm so sorry you had to see that…"

"That was only the beginning…" he muttered.

To be Continued...