Saving Shard

Chapter 11

Church bells rang in the distance. These were not chimes resounding from an angelic cathedral. These chimes echoed across the night sky as though clanged by a ghostly fist. Depending on the receiving ear these church bells could be perceived as either somber or as a hymn of bliss. The same series resonated both at funerals and weddings alike. However, tonight these bells neither rang for Shard's funeral or for the nuptial celebration of Ash and Misty. These were merely the twilight chimes which rang every Saturday night at the stroke of ten. The chimes were rung by the monks who lived in the mountains surrounding the Indigo Plateau, and Misty found herself counting them. The clangs numbered ten.

Ten.

The number of gunshots which had sent Shard over the ravine and out of her life.

Misty flinched upon her pillow and tried to pull the fabric over her ears. After a futile moment she sat up in bed. Ash slept silently beside her with Pikachu curled upon his chest. Sam snoozed by her feet at the bed's edge. Doing her best not to stir the mattress, Misty stood up and walked toward the window. She pulled the curtain aside and pressed her forehead against the cool glass, allowing her sight full access to the night. A trickle of moonlight bled through the dark sky like milk spilled upon a black cloak – the stain was blatant at first but was quickly absorbed within the darkness. Like a lonely waterlily did Misty's sight continue to drift across the evening landscape. Ash's condo was situated on a high hill overlooking the Pokemon Master's battle arena. Except for the morsels of moonlight the environment was no more than a daunting shadow, barren of vitality . . . just like her.

Misty never was fond of the view here, she much preferred that of her apartment in the Orange Islands. She wanted to be surrounded by water, not cement, buildings. Misty's apartment in the islands was soon to become her former apartment. She would be moving out after their wedding and leaving her job there as organizer of the Orange Islands Water-type training program. Misty would then live full time with Ash and start looking for a new job, something closer to the Plateau. These decisions had been finalized a long time ago. The commute from her apartment in the Islands to the Indigo Plateau was more than a days travel. Ash and Misty could never settle down and build a life if they lived so far apart. Ash could not be expected to give up being the Pokemon Master just to spend more time with her. That would be completely unrealistic, Misty mused, remembering that this same debate — which she so often had with herself— she had already had with Shard.

Mentally returning to her default line of argument: Misty resolved that her dream job would have to go. It had been her idea. Misty had offered to give it up and make the move back to Kanto. She was confident that she would find another job quickly. Ash had often told her that she need not even worry about work, he made more than enough money to support them both. But Misty could never take Ash up on that offer. If he paid the electric bill then she insisted on paying for water. If he paid for the cellphones then she would take care of their online charges. She was an independent woman, nothing like her gold-digging sisters, and proud of that fact. Misty would pay her share or she would not move in with Ash at all. Although he teased her for being so stubborn, Misty knew that Ash admired this quality within her. He loved the fact that she wanted to be with him simply to be with him and for no other reason. Of course all of these plans had been made quite some time ago . . .

Before she had been abducted by Team Rocket.

Misty continued to stare into the night, allowing coal to seduce jade. It was like peering into the eyes of an Arbok . . . eternally black . . . but Misty was use to this sight. Even in broad daylight this is what she saw. Black. Everywhere she went. Every. Single. Day. For the past two months.

Following her release from the Rocket base, Misty had spent a few days in the hospital, and then the next two weeks at her island apartment. She worked around the clock at her job. She had felt an urgent need to catch up on all of the work she had missed while abducted. They felt like four lifetimes. Her boss pleaded with her to stop working –- to go home and rest, but Misty would not. She could not. When her mind lacked an appointed task it would fixate, and it would always fixate on him.