Another chapter!
And a quote! ‘One by one I’ve watched illusions shattered…’ Christine, Phantom
of the Opera Musical
Disclaimer: I don’t own pokemon; it belongs to Nintendo and Shogakukan Comics. This is non-profit, non-copyright infringing fanfic written by me and it’s mine, all mine!
Notes: <> for telepathy, ** for thoughts, italics if a pokemon talks
Ash: Misty and Me?!
Phantomness: Don’t worry; I’ll break you up. ^-^V
Lance: ^-^
Chapter 4
The party went off without a hitch. It was what happened after that became problematic.
A scream echoed through the nearly empty house.
Misty grabbed her clothes and ran off into the night, where a drunken male later ambushed her.
Anyways.
Lance found a crying Vulpix sitting in a sink filled with water, trying to kill itself. Without a word, he dried Ash off despite his protests, earning more than a few burns in the process, and put him to sleep forcibly.
< She doesn’t love me… >
< You thought she did. > It was not a question.
Ash, now back in human form, sat on the bed, wrapped in a blanket and naught else. “I-I… I loved her!”
“Like you loved Linda.”
“Yes!”
“Have you learned your lesson now?”
“I can’t help it.”
“Everyone wants someone to love.” Lance said, as he fed Ash chicken noodle soup spoonful by spoonful.
< But no one loves me. >
< Now don’t say that, Ash. > Lance told him. < You’re heir to the clan now, aren’t you? >
< Isn’t that important? >
Ash quietly sat there and tried to think, but the image that kept intruding on his solitude and forced serenity was Misty’s screaming face.
Monster…
“I-I’m not!”
Lance put the soup down and knelt down on the bed next to him. < Ash, please…if you die, I will die too. >
Ash’s head snapped back. That was true… as his Protector, Lance _had_ to keep him safe no matter what.
The execution and mode of death was a rather cruel one.
Cruel and exacting and unfair…
“A-all right, I won’t.”
He wouldn’t send Lance off to die no matter how selfish he was.
Lance quietly fed him the rest of the soup and told him to rest more.
The next day was a school day, unfortunately. Ash just hid, and tried to hide, but he was hard-pressed to ignore Misty’s scathing remarks and muttered insults.
He ran home in tears right after school.
“Why?”
“Why what?” Lance asked, as he patted Ash’s cheeks dry with a handkerchief, but the flow of tears continued.
“Am I so unlovable?”
“No, they just don’t see. How can they understand? Only another person with the same curse can understand your feelings.”
“I guess…”
Ash wasn’t really comforted though.
Misty… you were my last hope of normality.
No one cares for me now…
She’ll probably want revenge too, thinking I’m lying to her. And if I cry today, how will I get through the rest of summer session with her?
What to do…
He didn’t know what to do, and that scared him. He hated being lost. Everyone hates being lost; it’s a universal annoyance. However, most males bluster instead of asking for directions.
Lance held him as he cried.
At least he still had his Protector.
The next day, however, proved to be worse.
Much worse.
This time, Misty publicly denounced him as a demon in front of the whole school, and then tried to kiss him and make him transform.
He fled, but that added value and weight to her testimony.
He had barely gotten home when a mob of enraged students arrived.
Morty sent them away, or more accurately, disposed of them, but…
It still hurt.
He did not sleep well that night. What to do?
“What can I do?”
“I can use Amnesia wave on the rest.”
“That won’t change anything Lance, they’ll still look at me with hatred even if they don’t know why.”
“It’s a risk you took.”
“H-hai, I know…”
“In my opinion, it is one that did not pay off.”
“I still don’t understand, Lance.”
“Humans try to understand the world with limited knowledge, and whatever is not ‘normal’, they destroy.”
“I know, but… why couldn’t she have loved me?”
“Do you think she did?”
“… No.” Ash finally confessed. “She never loved me.”
“You are certain.”
“Hai.” Ash brooded though, and continued to do so.
“Why doesn’t anyone love me?”
“The clan does.”
“Lance, that doesn’t count. They see me as a symbol and nothing more. I wish…”
Lance waited as Ash struggled to form words.
“I wish… I wish I… I wish someone loved me, knowing everything and who I am. That’s what I really wish.”
“Be careful what you wish for.”
“It will never come true though,” Ash sighed as he flopped back onto the bed. “So I should not hope anymore.”
End Chapter
Completed 6/28/04
*WARNING* the next chapter will contain shonen-ai championshipping and ‘R’ rated scenes, possibly even lemon. Tread with caution.