Ash and Misty's Love?

Part 7

Written By TwistedReality

Misty's POV

"Brock...Misty..What's wrong?" Ash asked, with quiet dread in his voice.

Brock started to sob audibly, and I knew I was going to be the one to tell
Ash the truth.

"What's wrong?" he asked louder, with more alarm in his voice.

I glanced over to Mrs. Ketchum who had started to comfort Brock, before I
looked over to Ash.

"Ash...There's something you have to know..." I whispered, sitting on the
chair next to Ash's bed.His eyes bore into my eyes, and I felt the urge to
look away, but I had to tell him the truth.
                                     
"Ash..." I started, trying to keep myself composed. I looked over to Mrs.
Ketchum who started to move closer to Ash.

He didn't even notice her.

"...During the explosion...." I shuddered when I said these words. The memory
of watching as..I couldn't hold back a tear, but I continued. I had to. He
had to know.

Brock stood in the corner, looking down at the floor with his back turned
toward us. I knew he wasn't going to step in and save me from this horrible
task as I had irrationally hoped he would.

"Pikachu..." My throat seemed to close up when I saw Ash suddenly stiffen. His
whole body shook, as he silently begged me not to confirm what he feared.

I closed my eyes. There was no way I was going to be able to do this if I
looked him in the eyes.

"Pikachu...didn't make it..."

"What...?" Ash whispered, shuddering.

Mrs. Ketchum let out a gasp, and stared at her son helplessly, not knowing
what to say or do.

Ash numbly shook his head. "No...it can't be true...because...because..."
There was soft desperation in his voice.

"Ash..." I said softly, reaching for his hand, which was clenched into a small
fist.

Ash angrily pulled his hand away. "Pikachu is in the pokemon center!" he
yelled loudly, trying to get up, even though his mother held him back. "You
said so!"

I jumped from the bed, scared at the intensity of Ash's denial.

"Ash...stop it..." Brock begged feebly, finally speaking. He slowly walked
over to Ash, until he reached Ash's bed.

Ash fell silent. Brock looked like a complete wreck. His face was red from all
the crying, and his hair was messy.

Brock's appearance made Ash's eyes widen in realization "N-No..." Ash
whispered, frantically glancing back and forth at me and Brock.

"Brock..?" he questioned.

Brock didn't say anything. He just looked away.

Ash turned to me. "Misty...?"

"I'm sorry..." I sobbed, reaching out for his hand again.

Ash didn't seem to see me. His back was pressed against the wall, and his eyes
were....blank.

"Ash!" I screamed, horrified that his eyes could look that way. I crumpled
down to the ground sobbing, while Brock looked frantic.

Mrs. Ketchum reached for Ash, who suddenly burst into tears, and jumped out of
his bed.

"No!" Mrs. Ketchum panicked, starting after Ash.

He didn't make it very far. He was too weak to run, and he fell to the ground
with a thump that made my stomach flip. If he was hurt again...

The sound of Ash crying relieved me somewhat. He didn't even stop at the
moment he had hit the ground.

We just watched him for a moment, until Mrs. Ketchum scooped him up from the
ground.

He didn't resist when she put him on the bed and put the covers over him.

"Mrs. Ketchum...I'm sor-" I started, feeling guilty about Ash's state.

"No...It's not your fault.." Mrs. Ketchum said softly, trying to give me a
comforting smile. "Why don't you two just rest up, okay?" she said softly.

"What about Ash?" Brock asked nervously.

"I'm going to try to get him to sleep...he needs rest..." Mrs. Ketchum said,
returning her gaze to Ash.

"Come on, let's go, Misty..." Brock whispered to me, as he left the room.

I looked back at Ash, but I left the room reluctantly.

***

The trip back to the waiting room seemed to take forever. Brock shuffled
through the hallways, completely shutting out the rest of the world.

All I could think about was the fact that just an hour ago I had been running
through the hallways in ecstasy.

When we arrived at the stiff plastic chairs, I flopped down on one of them,
not minding how uncomfortable they had felt when I waited on them before.

Brock just stood in front of one of the chairs, staring at it. A few people
stared at him because he looked so strange just standing there.

"Brock? Maybe you should just sit down..." I whispered.

"I..." he started, kneeling in front of me. "I'm sorry...I shouldn't have made
you tell Ash...It was my responsibility.."

A part of me wanted to yell at him, but a larger part of me just wanted to
wave off the apology. Ash already knew, and I just didn't want to think about
it.

"It's okay...Brock.." I said, trying to smile, but failing miserably.

"I should have protected him better...then this never would have happened."
Brock continued, mirroring my thoughts.

I shook my head. "Brock....you had nothing to do with Ash getting hurt."

I sighed sadly when I saw how Brock's shoulders still slumped. He didn't
believe me. He just sighed and sat down on the seat next to me.

We waited for an hour. I started to feel hungry, but I didn't want to get up.
I was pretty sure I wouldn't be able to keep down anything I ate anyways.

I was stretching when Mrs. Ketchum let out a soft sigh. Brock was the first to
notice, but he hadn't said anything, until I had finished stretching and saw
her walking down the hallway.

"Are you two alright?" she asked with fake cheer.

"We're fine..." Brock said, without meeting her gaze.

Mrs. Ketchum looked at Brock with deep concern, but she didn't say anything
about it. "Have you two eaten?" she asked me.

I shook my head.

"You two should go to the cafeteria and get something." she said, her
suggestion sounding more like a command.

"Okay..." I conceded. The hunger was really getting to me.

"I'm not hungry..." Brock sighed.

"Brock, you haven't eaten all day. Of course your hungry." Mrs. Ketchum said
in a practical tone.

He just looked away, still brooding.

"Brock...If you're all hungry and tired, there's no way you're gonna help Ash
through this!"

Mrs. Ketchum nodded in agreement and Brock finally stood up unwillingly.

***

I had to force every bit of food into my own mouth, reminding myself that the
food would make the hunger pains go away. It would make me stronger so I could
be there for Ash.

Mrs. Ketchum was eating just as slowly as I was, but she occasionally tried
to give a smile to show us that everything was going to be okay.

Brock just picked at his food, eating a bit of it with my insistent badgering
every now and then.

Sometimes I wanted to yell at him for being so difficult, but I knew that he
was probably blaming himself for this more than anyone else.

Mrs. Ketchum was mostly quiet the whole time that we were eating. Sometimes
she would just sigh for no reason all, although she mostly sighed when Brock
was refusing to eat. It wasn't really a sigh in frustration as much as it was
a sigh of sadness.

After two hours, Mrs. Ketchum and I had managed to empty our plates, while
Brock had swallowed down a quarter of his food.

We didn't object when Brock insisted that he was full. We knew that a quarter
of his plate of food was the most that we would get him to eat. Every morsel
had tasted bitter, and we were glad to be done of the necessary function of
eating.

***

When we walked out of the cafeteria, Brock slumped back down on a plastic
chair.

"Mrs. Ketchum...Can we see Ash?" he asked almost robotically.

"He's probably still sleeping." Mrs. Ketchum said nervously.

"I don't mind." Brock whispered.

Mrs. Ketchum walked up to Brock and led him towards Ash's room.

"Are you coming?" she asked me.

I shook my head, even though I really wanted to say yes. The memory of Ash's
reaction was too fresh on my mind. There was probably a chance that he was
awake, and I was sure that he wouldn't want to see me then.

Mrs. Ketchum led Brock to the room and went back to me. Her eyes had lost
their fake cheeriness as she looked back, as though she was checking to see if
someone was following her.

"Mrs. Ketchum...." I started, wondering why she wouldn't be with Brock.

"Misty...I need to talk to you..." she whispered, sounding urgent.

"What is it?!" I asked frantically, worrying about Ash.

"I-I'm thinking of taking Ash home when he gets better..."

"Of..Of course..." I stammered, not liking the finality of her tone.

"I mean...I'm thinking of keeping him home...to stay."

TO BE CONTINUED

NOTE: No, You are not dreaming. I wrote this part in less than a month. With
a combination of great reviews and the fact that my sister repeatedly hit me
on the head, with the copy of parts 1-6 that I printed out for her,
threatening to make my life miserable if I didn't finish this part by
8 O'clock today...Whew! I'm tired! I'm evil with the cliffhangers...but what
can I say? Of course...as always..Please Read and Review! Bya!