Pokémon Legacy: Come Back to Me

Chapter Five

"What do you mean Tierno?" Ash yelled.

"I mean that I love her Ash! I always have! And you dragging her through the mud is pissing me off! Because she can't seem to let go of you!" Tierno exploded. He rolled his eyes and stormed away, leaving Ash staring after him, understanding.

"I better go calm Tierno down before he does something stupid. Just think about it Ash." Trevor snapped, moving away to follow Tierno.

"Ash, you're killing her. When are you going to realize that?" Shauna asked, a little more calmly and softly.

"I know I am, and I hate myself for it. I do have feelings for her, I'm just scared."

"You're not afraid of anything." Shauna replied.

"I seem to be hearing that a lot lately." Ash muttered, glancing away from Shauna's piercing gaze. His hands curled into fists.

"Ash, I know you. You've never been afraid before. What is it?"

"I don't know." Ash muttered.

"Ash, that's not true."

"I don't know Shauna, okay?" Ash snapped. Shauna put a hand on his arm.

"What are you afraid of? You know she loves you."

"I'm afraid of losing her!" Ash yelled. "Everyone I've let myself get close to has disappeared. Misty, Brock, May, Max, Tracy, Iris, Cilan, hell, I don't even know who my father is, and I feel like it's only a matter of time before my mom disappears too."

"Dawn's still here." Shauna muttered.

"Yeah? I lost her too, back before I even came to this godforsaken place." Shauna was hurt for a moment when he talked about her home like that, but that doesn't matter right now.

"But she's back, right?" Shauna asked.

"Yeah, and she's only still here because I haven't said anything to her! It kills me that I can't say that I love her too, and I probably never will."

"Why Ash?"

"Because if I do, it's telling the world that she's ripe for the taking! And that also means saying goodbye to Serena, and I don't want to do that!"

"And because you don't love Dawn. You love someone else." Shauna said. Ash sighed. "Ash, talk to her."

"I can't do that. If Dawn found out, she'd be destroyed."

"Serena is destroyed every day. And from the looks of it, so are you."

"I know! But I told you, if I hurt someone else like that—"

"Ash, it's going to hurt her more if you keep leading her on."

"I'm not going to break up with Dawn. She needs me."

"Serena needs you too. So do the rest of us. Ash, you touched a lot of people here in Kalos, can't you see that?"

"Really?" Ash asked. Shauna nodded. "I had no idea, but I'm still not breaking it off with her, so lay off."