Lost in their Past

Chapter 69:-I'll always find you

"You think Unown's are radioactive?" Said Ash as he brushed the long tail of Aria's Delphox.

"What?" Asked Serena, combing her long fiery ears.

"Like we have read about radioactive elements in class right?"

She nodded.

"Radioactive elements leave behind some residue and its effect lasts for a long time. Do you think that somehow... Unown's are radioactive?"

Serena didn't answer. It had been months since she'd brushed or even held her Pokemon. When she'd locked eyes over Aria's Delphox in the shed, Serena had begged Aria to brush her in the night.

She was sitting in the backyard brushing her hair when Ash approached her. A smile was engraved on his face. They sat together in silence for quite some time. Every time Ash looked at her, there was a little hesitation in his smile. She could that he'd been waiting a long time to ask her the question just by looking at it.

"Why are you asking this?" She asked softly.

Ash shrugged, "Nothing," a sigh escaped his lips as he put down the brush and stared into the open sky.

Serena couldn't but ask, "Ash,"

"Hmm,"

"We've known each other for nearly a decade, what's bothering you?"

Ash did the mistake of looking into her cerulean blue eyes, the ocean full of innocence and sweetness. He opened his mouth to say another bald-faced lie but ended up blurting everything.

Serena sat in patience as Ash poured his heart out to her, his dreams, the talk with a mysterious man back in Basil, and the peeping in the past.

The blonde couldn't help but be skeptical, by the time he was finished, the fire Pokemon had left the premise with a big smile.

"Ash..." she took his hand in hers, "you have to tell your mother."

He chewed his lip with a sigh, "She'll just worry... she's had enough of it for a lifetime."

"But she's the lead scientist on the Unown's case." She argued, "Ash, listening voices and seeing the past isn't normal, counting the crazy situation were in. Please, for my sake, please tell her."

He wasn't going to tell her, he couldn't bring himself too. Ash was never good at confrontation, that's why he'd waited for Misty to break up with him so he didn't have to.

He wasn't good at lying either, especially when he was looking at the gorgeousness which was Serena.

"You're cute," he put a lock of her hair behind her ear.

The blonde sighed, "Ash, come on—"

"I'm serious, the first time I saw you, I was like damn, this girl is cute."

She couldn't help but giggle while remembering the circumstances of their meeting. "The first time you met me, you were thinking, damn! I've got to get my hands on that Poliwag!"

Ash let out a chuckle, "I never did get to meet that Poliwag."

"Instead you met me."

"Aye," he wrapped his hand around her shoulder and pulled her close, "if I hadn't been chasing that Poliwag, you would have fallen and I wouldn't have given you my handkerchief... which means that you wouldn't have followed me around like a stalker."

She playfully hit his arm with a giggle, "Better than following you around for a bike."

"What? Where did you—"

"Gary talks, Ash."

The raven-haired sighed, cursing his friend in the distance. "You know sometimes when you do this or yell at me, I wondered whether it was worth losing my handkerchief and that Poliwag over."

"Of course it was," she hummed as she leaned towards him.

The two of them found themselves lost in the sounds of Chewa Island. Serena was overwhelmed by her thoughts, she'd been killing herself trying to come up with a way to talk to Ash about them without breaking time. She had to do it now, because there was no time or place better than the one she was in, she wasn't going to get anything better than Chewa Island, that place seemed to have a way to smooth things over.

"Ash..." she said softly, "I was having a talk with Aria and she said that she worries that someday... Alain might not come home."

"What? Why would she—"The hesitation in her eyes said it all. "Aria is afraid for his life? But why? He's the greatest trainer I've ever known and he's... so damn strong."

She kept her silence for some time, "I worry too."

"What for?"

"For you,"

Ash withdrew his hand from her shoulder, he couldn't help but be amazed and hurt at the same time.

She's afraid for me, he thought, she loves me.

On the other hand, he had hurt her enough times for a lifetime, he didn't want to anymore.

"But why?"

She shrugged, "It was the second time you were taken, and both the times I couldn't help but shake a feeling that something ominous was going to happen... that you were going to die."

He wanted to console her, to tell her that nothing was going to happen but after seeing what had happened to his father and Charlus, he didn't want to jinx it. Ash could sympathize with the blonde, he'd been through the same back when they called team alpha for backup.

He was so afraid for Serena that he'd walked into a walking time bomb.

"I understand," he pulled her in closer, "I fear for you too."

A sigh escaped the blonde's lips as she leaned against his chest. The wild winds of the Chewa Island blew past them, shaking the wind chime that Alice had made, alive.

"This isn't how we're supposed to live, in pain and worries, I mean."

"I know," he caressed her shoulders, "but we go no other choice... life is—"

"Unpredictable,"

He nodded. "Hey," he pulled apart once again, "let's promise this to one another."

The blonde frowned, "No promises... I don't want to jinx—"

"I know I know," he smiled, "but it's not a promise... it's a... um... factual statement!"

"Okay then... go on."

"Okay so... no matter where we are or who was with... if we're kidnapped or presumed dead... I'll always find you, no matter the odds."

Serena pondered on his statement for a long time, in the end, she couldn't help but smile.

"You promise?"

A chuckle escaped his lips, "I promise, I'll always find you."