A/N: Okay, so you all know how much I've been dreading this chapter. And I'm accepting a lot of unhappy readers, but don't make any mistake. I have my reasons. And depending on what responses I get in the next few hours, I might make a chapter explaining all my reasons for doing this. So, let me know if you want that.
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Everything was seemingly perfect. All wrapped up, sealed seamlessly and tied neatly with a bow. Serena was traveling with us again. I'd seen Gary after such a long time. Greninja was back. Elaina hadn't shed another tear since that night.
But it's funny how the universe works. Nothing is perfect. Good things don't stay for too long. At some point, the universe finds a way to tear that perfectness to shreds, rip it from your grasp and make you plead on your knees.
And one day, the universe did just that.
It started with a simple phone call. The muffled buzzing woke me up in the early hours of morning. I hadn't used my cell phone in months, it'd never proved of much need.Groggily awakening, I rummaged through my backpack in order to take the call.
But who could be calling at this hour?
Fumbling about with the device, I somehow managed to accept the call and bring it to my ear. Sleep still heavily ran through my veins and at first I was rather slow to comprehend what was coming through the other end. My voice was already weak with lethargy, but this phone call made my lack of vocal activity worse.
"Ash? Hello? Is that you?" A familiar voice came through the other end and in my sleepy daze, I attempted a smile, but it must have resembled more of a grimace.
"Professor Oak. W-why are you calling? It's so..." I yawned carelessly, "early."
"Something very tragic has happen here in Pallet and I think you need to come down. Now." He informed, but I could tell, even in this stupor, that he was dancing around the real reason for calling. Like taking cautious steps around a fragile vase, in fear it would fall and shatter.
"Go back to Kanto? No, I can't. I'm not ready. All my friends are here, Gary is here. Whatever it is, I'm sure my mum can step in my place." I reassured the professor. I wanted to hold onto Kalos for a little longer still. Yes, my original excuse had been Greninja, and now he was back, there seemed no excuse at all. But still, I refused to let go.
"That's who I am calling about." His voice was meek and barley threaded onto stability. Confusion instantly leaked into my expression.
"M-my mom?" I questioned, with hesitance. I pondered if I really wanted to know what professor Oak had to say; his previous words ringing in my head so loud it throbbed.
Something very tragic has happened here in Pallet.
"Ash..." He's said my name, as if I might have lost all memory of it. As if my name could comfort me. It did no such thing. "You're mom...she was in a terrible accident last night. She's in hospital now and been in surgery for the last three hours. I didn't want to trouble you, but, I'm afraid it's not looking good. Ash, I think it's best you come down."
It...it hurt. There was no other way to describe the slash of torment that struck itself deep within my gut. The feeling spread, concurring my heart and lungs, until even my finger tips were numb off the wretched emotion. It pinched every nerve, until I'd forgotten how to speak. Silence filtered into the space, holding every dismay at a higher amplitude until they screamed at the very corners of my scull.
"Ash?" Professor Oak asked dubiously, and rightfully so. My fingers almost dropped the phone in my consternation. I gulped down a much needed mouthful of air before speaking again.
"W-what happened?" I somehow managed, pleasantly surprised I hadn't chocked on my own words.
"She was out late last night grocery shopping...no one really knows exactly what happened. The drivers of the vehicle are still in shock. They were young, Ash, and the car spun out of control. It was on the small roads of Pallet, you know they could have been avoiding a wild Pokemon that had wondered onto the road..."
"Wait!" I cut off the professor, needing confirmation that I was hearing right. "She was hit by a car?"
"According to officer Jenny's reports, yes."
It was too much. It was all too much. Too much to drink in. Too much to comprehend. My head couldn't help spinning on an axis, blurring my vision for brief moments and plunging my legs into a rattletrap. The morning was too young. My brain had been kept far too safe from these things. And I couldn't bare to think for the future.
"I-I need to come to Kanto." I stammered. If there had been any way to rip me from my threads to Kalos, it would be this. This was how I dropped everything--
And left.
"Ash, how far are you from Lumious City?" The professor asked, gears now turning and alertness jumping into his tone.
"Not far, we've been headed there lately." I responded, nodding and trying to push aside the aches that tore through my chest. I tried to gather my thoughts and arrange them orderly, at least until I got to Kanto.
"There's an 8:30 flight from Kalos to Kanto at Lumious Airport. It's five o'clock now, you might be able to make it."
I didn't care if I had to sprint until my legs went numb, I would make that flight.
After biding Professor Oak a hurried goodbye, I began packing everything I owned into my backpack. Hastily and rushed, with so little care it almost didn't zip up. I stumbled out of my tent, legs still weakened with shock. I could barely hold myself up right, my body twitching with sudden reminders of the horrible news I'd just heard.
The sun was breaking over the horizon, beading drops of sunlight into the bittersweet sky. A series of corals, mauves and magentas bled across an empyrean. Every detail dripped in shine, lacing tangerine through the forest trees. Wisps of fibrous clouds stretched through the watercolors like pulled cotton.
It was a beautiful morning. Nevertheless, the day was anything but.
After pulling down my tent and stuffing it amongst the chaos of my belongings, my gaze fell upon the tent to my right. The one that held Serena and Elaina. The one that I should visit, before I leave. The one I needed to visit, before I tore myself away.
With as much care as I could summon to my trembling fingers, I unzipped the tent and poked my head through the gap. Both blondes were found sleeping, turned towards opposite sides of the tent, unmoving, save for the steady rise and fall of their chests. Both were so peaceful, so at ease. It seemed a crime to disturb them with such horrible news. To turn those faint sleeping smiles into troubled frowns.
I was going to wake them, I really was. I was going to tell them, in person, for that matter. But something stopped me. My eyes flitted to Elaina and I recalled our conversation the night before, afore we continued to bed.
"I need to tell Serena. I can't hold onto it much longer. I'm just so guilty." I had said, having no one els to talk to about my dilemma.
"Tell her what?"
"That I voted for Aria in the finals and not her." It had been weighing on my shoulders like bricks, stacking up each time she smiled at me.
"You can't do that! It'll break her heart!" She was right, it would do just that. But I hated how Serena was so happy, grinning so carelessly at me, knowing she was unaware.
"I know but I... I..."
"You can't! I can't see her go through that! You two have so much already, don't break it. If you do I... I could do something I regret." She looked ashamed and I confused. I was going to ask what she had meant by that, but Serena arrived.
Maybe...Serena never had to know.
If I left, she could be happily heedless and I, rid of much guilt.
Then my gaze fell upon the honey blonde herself. Sleeping in complete obliviousness. I always thought that would be me, the one still unaware. The one that didn't know how others felt. I guess, sometimes the universe does funny things and switches people around.
She was so amazing, and without my help, at that. Serena didn't need me to accomplish her dream, that she had proven already. Heck, she didn't even need my vote. Possibly, she'd be better off without me. No distractions. She'd be truly incredible.
Call me cowardly, call me craven. But I couldn't wake them; I couldn't disturb them. What if they pleaded to come with me? I'd be too weak to say no. How could you expect a bush to reject its own flowers? A table its own legs?
And I simply couldn't tear them away from the place they belonged. They had so much they needed in Kalos. So much more than me. And it would be no less than selfish to drag them down alongside myself.
Look where selfishness got me last time.
So I left, without much more than a note explaining my disappearance. And a peck on Serena's ever-blushing cheek.
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Serena's POV:
I had slept well that night. Very well in fact, to where I only awoke as the sun was creeping up towards noon. We had indeed been catching up on lack of sleep over the past two nights, but that was besides the point.
My eyes fluttered open to a tent dripping with sunlight, beams passing through every small crevasse between stitches. I blinked a few times to rid myself of the slight sting that comes along with sudden light changes. Sitting up, mildly slumped, I found myself staring at a folded piece of paper at the end of my sleeping bag. With a bubbling curiosity, I took it in my grasp only to find it creased with celerity written words.
Dear Elaina, Gary and Serena...
I re-read the letter five times. Each repeat drawing another silent tear to my waterline. Each digging the knife a little further into my chest.
My mother was in an accident last night...
I didn't sob or wail or whimper. Because in all fairness, I should have known this day would come.
I've left back to Kanto...
Those words strung like the slow tearing of a bandaid from flesh.
Follow your dream, Serena. Be the best Queen Kalos has ever seen. Never give up, until it's over.
But those words stung the most.
Elaina woke up during the forth time I read the letter. Her face perplexed upon taking in my situation, face stained with streaks of tears. My friend snatched the crimped paper from my hands in order to read it herself. And she didn't like what she saw. Teal eyes glassed over and fingers almost too feeble to hold the letter's weight, she slowly returned it to me, to read for the fifth time, as she couldn't bare to look at it any longer.
I knew this day would come. I knew he would leave me. But not like this. And not now. I still wasn't ready. I didn't think I ever would be.
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We walked the rest of the journey to Lumious City in silence. Neither Elaina or Gary bickered. No one cried much more than silent strings of hot tears. Prevailing silence, cutting though everyone's comfort as we trudged with no zeal to our steps.
The streets of Lumious didn't appear so lively. The warm aroma of patisseries and confectioners not as inviting. The colors that once popped from dangled flower pots faded into the background. The city seemed dull today.
We headed straight to the Pokemon center. It was past midday by the time we had finally arrived, the sun shining overhead and casting our glum shadows onto the pavement. We'd all decided we needed to call Ash, to see how he was doing.
We waited still utterly submersed in silence. But what could anyone say? That it was tragic? They hope she's okay? That he's okay? We knew it would be nothing but wasted breaths, hovering erroneously over our heads. As if someone could give an answer. It was better not to talk.
"Hello?" There was a voice from the other end of our call, the face of a vaguely familiar old man appearing on the screen. Tuff combed back hair and milky skin that had wrinkled over the creases of time. Possibly, he would have looked younger, if the lilac bags under his eyes didn't make every rumple that much more prominent. Yet still, I recognized him as Professor Oak.
"Gramps?" Gary blurted mere seconds after the image appeared.
"Gary? Serena and...friend? You're calling about Ash, I presume." He inquired correctly, rubbing a callous hand over his jawline, as if to smooth the stress out of his expression.
"Yes. Is he with you? Is he okay?" I asked, the amount of desperateness braided into my words far exceeding a healthy level.
"He...is not. He's only just arrived here and Delia-- his mother-- is still in surgery. Its a long procedure. He's at the hospital now, but, he won't talk to anyone. Not to me, not to the nurses. He just wants his mother to be okay." The professor explained, and I could tell, his ties with Ash's mother were strong. When I'd first met him, through a screen identical to this, he was with her.
"I understand. He probably just wants to be alone right now, but please, don't let him stay alone for too long. Give him a message for me: that I'm praying for his mother and wish she gets through this, but also, I hope to speak to him soon. Whenever he's ready."
But hopes, sometimes that's all they are, just hopes.
"I'll let him know, Serena, once he's ready to talk again. I'm sure then he'd love to speak to you. Congratulations, on earning the title of Kalos Queen, even though you stepped down. That was quite some speech." He said, some hints of a smile playing along his lips. But I didn't want his appraisal. Being Kalos Queen was a distant memory for me.
"T-thank you." I muttered, not sure wether the professor heard or not.
"Anyways, I wish you well, and not too much sadness. Gary, we will speak about your research program later, perhaps at a better time." He consulted his grandson, who nodded tenderly in return. After bidding yet another goodbye, the screen flashed black, and the crawling, dolorous silence refilled the space.
"I'll be going back to Kanto in a few weeks. I'll check up on Ash and let you know how he's holding up. Don't worry so much, I'm sure he'll be fine. Ash is strong, believe me." Gary reassured Elaina and I. All I could do was weakly nod.
And he did so. Three weeks later, Gary returned to Kanto. Ash, however, still was not taking the situation well. He refused to say much to anyone other than his mother, who was in and out of consciousness, and occasionally, Gary. My hopes that he would one day call slowly diminished. Chipped and abated until it was barley enough to hold onto. As fragile as glass spun rods.
Cause he didn't talk. Not for three years.
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Please don't kill me.