fates collide // an ash xy love story

xxi // im fine

long chapter ahead!

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Ash walks out of the glass doors to find Hannah sitting with Weavile by her side looking off into the night, seeming as though she isn't concentrating on anything surrounding her currently, more in her own mind. It seems as though no one is around them, it just being the two of them and their Pokémon out in the cool breeze of the evening.

Hannah knows Ash is approaching her, so doesn't stop him from coming closer. She just sits on the cool ground, itching for him to stay a little longer.

"Hey Hannah," Ash says in a calm and tender voice, "Are you okay?"

Hannah looks over her shoulder slightly to see the boys figure showing concern for the girl, mainly his eyes showing their caring side Hannah knew he has but hadn't seen until now. Hannah was going to say something, but she couldn't. She was unable to say anything and instead answers Ash in a slightly broken sounding sigh while turning her head back.

Ash then sighs himself, knowing he isn't going to get Hannah to speak this way. So instead he decides to sit down next to her, with Pikachu whisking Weavile away from her trainer to play somewhere outside and away from the two of them.

But, Ash doesn't know what to do from here. He didn't think this far enough into his plan, because now he is alone and awkwardly sitting next to a wretched Hannah. Racking his head for something, anything at this point, but he doesn't need to because Hannah speaks up before him.

"I'm guessing you want answers, am I correct in this assumption?" She speaks in a low and raspy voice and is answered by Ash snapping out of his own thoughts and vigorously nodding his head.

"Very well," she says, looking at him once again "What is it exactly that you would like to know?"

Even when she is broken, Hannah still taunts the poor boy, making him talk even when he has no idea what to say. But Ash doesn't mind, he feels if his brain scattering to find an answer is enough to make Hannah feel more like herself again, then he can deal with a little bit of embarrassment from time to time.

"Well, uh... I guess the biggest question I have of right now is who is the 'him' Alain was talking about?" when Ash finished his sentence, the mention of Alain's name made Hannah's eye twitch with irritation. She takes a deep breath in and out and proceeds to rant about the boy she refuses to name, "That idiotic boy shouldn't've let any of that slip his pesky mind, he swore to secrecy."

She then looks ahead at Weavile, the memories of him leaking into them once again, and the image of a naive 11-year-old and her Pokémon rolls into her mind, "I guess you have the right to know who he is." Hannah looks once again at Ash and asks him a question, "Do you know why you have the right to know, Ash?"

The boy really considers his answer, not knowing what to say He was going to answer her question, but his answer becomes redundant when Hannah adds on, "Oh, and since Bonnie, Clemont and Serena aren't finding out, you can't say you heard the senseless boy say the pronoun 'him', around them, you don't know about him either."

With that answer off of the table, Ash just gives Hannah a clueless look. That makes Hannah laugh a little, and Hannah answers her own question. Looking up at Ash, she declares proudly, "Because I trust you."

Ash's clueless face morphs into happiness, and he says to her, "I'm really glad the feeling is mutual."

"Well, now that we've got that out the way," Hannah straightens up her back and begins yet another long anecdote about her past, "It's time you learnt about the darkest time in my life."