Pokémon Legacy: Come Back to Me

Chapter Thirteen

"Grandpa!" Korrina called, leading the others into the Tower of Mastery. The huge mega Lucario statue greeted Ash, Clemont, Bonnie, and Serena.

"Korrina?" Gurkin came out of the door underneath the base of the statue, yawning. It was late at night, the path to the Tower opened only a few minutes ago.

"Grandpa!" Korrina exclaimed again, throwing her arms around him. "I missed you. How's the gym?"

"It's fine." Gurkin said, pulling away. "But are you okay? I heard about the explosion, and I knew you were at the showcase."

"I'm okay Grandpa. We all got a little beat up, but we're healing." She explained, smiling. Gurkin looked over his granddaughter's friends, and saw Ash still in his wheelchair.

"Ash? Are you okay?" Gurkin asked.

"Yeah I'm fine. I just got off worse than everyone else." He said, grinning. "I have two cracked ribs, a broken nose, and a broken ankle."

"Did you go flying face first into a wall?"

"Actually yeah." Ash chuckled. "They got off easy, my girlfriend Dawn didn't even get hurt."

"Dawn? But I thought you and Serena—"

"Don't." Serena muttered. "It's not like that." Ash glanced at Serena, his heart wrenched. Something was bothering her, and he thought he knew what it was. Gurkin looked between the two, confused.

"Well, I'm going to sleep. You guys know where your rooms are, right?" Gurkin asked. Korrina nodded.

"Good night grandpa, I'll see you in the morning." Korrina gave him one last hug and then led her friends up to their rooms. "Bonnie, you can sleep in this room with Clemont and I, there's 2 beds. The other room has 2 beds too, Serena and Ash you guys can share that one." Ash and Serena glanced at each other, then nodded at Korrina.

"See you guys in the morning." Ash muttered. Serena wished them good night and rolled Ash into the room next door.

"Are you okay?" Ash asked cautiously.

"Yeah, totally. My boyfriend has a girlfriend. What could possibly be wrong with that?" She muttered, helping Ash out of the wheelchair.

"You said you were okay with it." Ash replied, putting his hands around her neck to stabilize himself.

"And I thought I was." Serena said, avoiding Ash's eyes. "But hearing all of our old friends say they thought we had something after hearing about you and Dawn, it made me wonder. And Shauna, Trevor, and Tierno all hate what I'm doing to myself."

"I hate what I'm making you do too. I can't tell you that enough." Ash said, pulling her chin up so she was forced to look at him. Serena started crying, a few tears dripping out of her eyes.

"I can't do it like this anymore Ash." She whispered. "I love you, but I love myself too. And I want to be happy. Somehow sharing you with Dawn doesn't make me happy."

"What are you saying?" Ash asked softly.

"I'm saying choose. It's either her or me." She lowered Ash to the bed and crossed the floor to look out the window. "I'm not a backup plan, and definitely not a second choice." Ash watched her, mouth open. She looked gorgeous in the moonlight, with the soft breeze swirling her long golden hair around her body. It's always been her.

Ash got up from the bed painfully, his ankle protesting. He took one shaky step, the impact jarring his broken ribs. Ankle throbbing and ribs burning, he crossed the floor.

Serena tilted her head when she heard the clumping, her breath speeding up and her heart racing. He was crossing the floor with a broken ankle to talk to her. His hands landed on her hips and Serena inhaled sharply.