The Box
By Kawaii Cherry Blossom
Disclaimer:
I do not own Pokémon or
its related components.
Summary:
Ash, Misty and Brock made a pact when they
were sixteen. Four years later, it is time to fulfil it, but the painful memories
left behind spark a tale of tears and regret. Everything has seemingly changed.
What happened to shatter their lives so drastically?
Type:
Drama/Romance/Angst
Rating: PG
Other: AAMRN
Ages:
Ash – 20
Misty – 20
Notes:
Well here is a longer
chapter for you guys! Thank you so much for your kind words. It’s thanks to you
that these chapters are getting out so fast, because you inspire (and force,
jk!!) me to write more and more! So please keep up your reviews, I really love
reading them, especially when I’m in the middle of a horribly looooooong day at
work!
Oh yeah, and just a note
to silvasil… Please don’t accuse me of copying your fanfics. Number one – there
are like hundreds of fics based around a Pokemon war. You were not the first
one to think of it. And number two – there is no fic of that nature in your
profile. How on earth could I copy it if I’ve never seen it before? It’s not
very nice to accuse people of things.
-------------------------------------------------------
August 18th
Misty never could picture Ash driving a car, and even
when she was sitting in the passenger seat of his old red hatch, it still
seemed strange. They were both silent. She kept stealing glances from him as he
was concentrating on where he was going. Through the window, she could see that
the sky was dull, neither sunny nor cloudy, as if it couldn't decide what it
wanted to be. Misty could empathise with that - making decisions had become
painful for her. The ones she'd made in the past had altered both hers, and her
friends' lives, in so many ways. So many bad ways...
“You stopped training, didn’t you?” Misty finally
broke the uncomfortable silence that lingered in the air. He didn’t reply
straight away, and Misty wondered whether he was choosing to ignore her
question, until he finally replied.
“How did you know?”
“I figured that, if you’d kept at it, you would have
been pretty high up in the ranks by now. But I watched all of the competitions
and I never saw you, not even once…”
He nodded, keeping his gaze transfixed on the road
ahead of him.
“It just didn’t seem right. But lately I’ve been
starting up again, doing little bits here and there,” he explained.
“I’m glad you are…”
“Me too.”
She paused and felt a heave of uneasiness wave through
her stomach. There was a question she’d been wanting to ask him. It was
something that had bothered her every day since she’d left, though she knew she
could do nothing to prevent it. But how could she ask him without sounding,
well, resentful? Biting her lip, she took a deep breath.
“Can I ask you a question?”
“Sure,” he glanced at her. His curious eyes met hers
for a brief moment, before he turned back to the road.
“Are you…well…seeing anyone?” she asked quietly, and
as soon as she’d said it, she wished she could take it back. It had come out
all wrong, sounding pathetic and feeble. He was probably about to laugh at her
and explain that he was engaged.
“No,” he replied, sort of bluntly.
“Oh.” Misty was surprised, but also slightly pleased.
A few seconds later, she scolded herself for feeling that way.
I don’t love him anymore. I can’t. I just can’t…
“What about you?” he broke the silence with his own
question.
“No,” she replied. He gave a slight nod as he
continued to stare ahead. She couldn’t tell if he was pleased or upset, or if
he didn’t have any feelings about it at all. Feeling uneasy, Misty sighed
inwardly. Unexpectedly, Ash was getting harder and harder to read.
They went back to sitting in silence until they
arrived at their destination. Fifteen minutes later, Ash pulled over to the
side of the road beside a large tree surrounded by grass.
"Here we are..." His voice was so soft she
could barely hear it.
He glanced at her, holding her gaze for a few moments.
She was drawn back in fear, as if she'd rather be anywhere else but here. But
if that was so, why had she come? Some part of her must have wanted to share
this with him, just as they'd promised they would so many years ago. It seemed
like forever since then, so much had happened. And yet, he remembered it as if
it were yesterday…
Shaking his head of his thoughts, he opened the car
door and stepped out. Misty followed suit and watched Ash as he walked around to
the boot of the car and opened it, before taking out a shovel. Holding it up
victoriously, he gave her a small smile. Misty nodded in reply and turned her
gaze to the tree, before proceeding to step towards it.
Standing in front of the large tree, like a pillar in
the middle of the field, Misty glanced up. It looked the same, if not more
alive than it was when they'd last visited. Its trunk was a deep brown and its
leaves a healthy green. Its branches spread out over a few metres like an
umbrella. The tree seemed to almost smile, but Misty couldn't understand why.
"Do you remember where it is?" Ash came up
behind her.
"Yeah," she replied, and stepped up to the
trunk of the tree. Her brow furrowing slightly in concentration, she took four
medium sized steps from the trunk, and pointed down at the spot. "It would
be about here."
"Right."
Taking the shovel, he stabbed it into the earth at the
spot Misty had pointed to. It had rained yesterday, so the ground was still
soft, and it came away easily as he dug into it. Misty watched him without a
sound. He looked so serious as he concentrated on his task, the wind softly
throwing his hair in all directions.
I wonder if he thought about me while we were apart. Surely he must be angry at me, but why isn’t he showing it? I don’t know what’s happened. He doesn’t seem himself anymore. He doesn’t seem to be the Ash Ketchum I grew up with. But…he’s still amazing, such a great person… And I still lo… No I don’t.
Suddenly, they heard a clang when the shovel hit
metal. Ash glanced up at Misty momentarily, his eyes glowing with an emotion
that Misty couldn't quite pinpoint. Fear, excitement, unease? She wasn’t sure.
Digging the shovel into the ground once more, he made
a space around the object. Still silent, Misty bent down and kneeled on the
grass. She leaned over and secured her hands around the object, before easing
it out gently.
Ash watched as she just seemed to stare at it,
unmoving and silent. It seemed as if she were so afraid of opening the black
metal box, that she'd rather sit there and look at it for eternity.
Misty hadn't noticed him staring at her; she was so
lost in her own world. Tracing her finger around the names engraved in the
metal, she let a tear slip down her cheek.
Ash, Misty and Brock
Friends Forever
"I wish he could be here too," she spoke,
her voice so quiet it was almost lost against the sound of the breeze gently
swaying the leaves of the tree.
"So do I..." Ash replied, glancing down at
the ground momentarily. "But...he'd want us to do this."
She didn't give him a reply; instead she just kept
staring at the box, as if trying to see through the cold metal. Watching her
with a frown, Ash reached around his neck and pulled his corded necklace off.
On the end of it, a small, silver key shone in the sunlight. Ash bent down and
sat on the grass across from Misty. He held out the key and she glanced up at
him with a nod, still seeming far away.
Placing the key in the lock at the top of the box, Ash
turned it, and it unlocked with a small click. Grasping the lid with his
fingers, he pushed it open carefully. The metal scraped together as it was
forced open, and both Ash and Misty held their breaths as the inside was
revealed.
Suddenly, it seemed as if time had reversed, like they
were sixteen again, putting the finishing touches on their box of memories.
They'd had so much fun that day, laughing as they each chose their most
precious keepsake to preserve until this day – August 18th. They'd
made a pact, a promise to each other, to stay friends no matter what
circumstances tried to pull them apart. It had all seemed so simple that day.
But unfortunately, it hadn't worked out the way the three of them had planned.
Not even close.
"It's my hat..." Ash spoke softly, as if he
were in awe. And he was, really, when he saw his old Pokemon League cap lying
in the top of the box. Misty couldn't help but smile softly at the memories it
brought flooding back.
"You were so obsessed with it," she said,
and surprisingly, he replied with a sheepish shrug.
"Well, you know what I had to do to get this
thing..."
"I know, I know. You had to send in like a
million postcards."
Ash grinned at her, and for a brief moment, she held
her smile. Then, as if someone had flicked a switch, it was turned off. Ash
looked down at his hat. For him, it was a symbol of who he was. Although he’d
changed over the years, he had never been able to let go of that part of him -
the innocent, childish boy who had begun his Pokemon journey in all the wrong
ways. Except for when he met Misty and Brock, of course...
"Oh wow, look..." she said as she spotted
the next item in the box. Ash had to laugh as she held it up.
"Your lure."
"Correction - the Mini Misty Mach 5," she
said softly, her voice unemotional and serious.
"Right, sorry." Ash expected her to laugh
then, but instead she was staring at the ladle that lay in the box.
It was tarnished with age and dented in many places,
but that didn't matter. Its significance was all that was important.
Tears flooded Ash and Misty's eyes, and neither of
them were brave enough to take the ladle out of its current resting place.
Finally, Misty reached in and grasped it. The familiarity that stung her when
she touched it chilled her to the bone.
"It sounds dumb...but I almost expect him to walk
right out from behind that tree..."
She’d taken the words right out of his mouth.
Wiping his eyes, Ash reached in for the next object -
a photo. He stared at it sadly, and heard Misty choke down a sob next to him.
Both of them remembered the day vividly in their minds. When they had to decide
on a photo to put in the box, Ash, Misty and Brock had easily chosen this one.
It was taken during the Johto League, and was a simple photo of the three of
them, arms around each other, smiling happily. That, Brock had said, was how he
wanted to remember his life - being happy and free. He'd explained that life
wasn't always going to be easy, but they should all remember the times they
shared, and never forget how they felt in those moments. Those were words that
Ash had always taken very seriously, even to this day, even after so much had
happened.
Ash glanced over at Misty; she seemed to be lost in
that world of hers again. Tear stains were etched into her cheeks, and as if on
cue, a single teardrop fell from her right eye.
She closed her eyes and bowed her head, as her frame
started to shake. "It's not fair, Ash..."
"I know it’s not…”
She didn't reply, and for a moment, Ash's mind went
blank, and he didn't know what to do. Then, in a simple gesture of kindness, he
leant over and put his hand on her shoulder. Misty opened her eyes, and it
almost seemed as if she was going to push him away, but she didn't. Looking
straight into his eyes, she nodded and sniffed, before wiping away her tears.
"Come on," he said a few moments later.
"The last part is the DVD, and the player is at home."
Taking the box, Ash stood up and offered Misty a hand.
She stared blankly into space for a few moments, before she finally reached up her
own hand and grasped his. Ash pulled her up gently, and she followed him back
to the car.
-------------------------------------------------------
Thank you for reading
again! I love you guys heaps. :) I’ll have the next chappie out as soon as I
can. I’m moving house soon though, and I’m very busy packing and organising
things, so I’m very sorry if it takes a while. I’ll try though!
Keep smiling everyone
and take care!
Love and light,
Sarah.