All for You

Chapter 72

Serena held Ash in her arms, crying again, but this time it was in relief and joy.

"Ash, you're gonna be okay!"

She held him close as she poured out her heart and soul to the unconsious boy.

"I thought you were dead, but you came back to us! I needed to say something before you went, and now I finally can.

"Ash, I love you with all my heart! I've loved you since you rescued me all those years ago in summer camp. I loved you since you invited me on your journey. And I've loved you every day since. 

"I'm so glad you're all right, Ash."

She cried tears of joy, hugging Ash tight.

Suddenly, the boy in her arms stirred.

"Ughnn... Serena?" He asked drowsily, slowly cracking open his eyes.

"ASH!" She screamed happily. She hugged him again, pulling him close to her. She didn't want to let him go.

"Hey Serena?" He asked. His voice was hoarse, but that was only to be expected from someone who died a few seconds ago.

"Yes, Ash?" 

"I heard you." He looked up at her with a tired but happy smile.

Serena turned slightly red. "Y-you did?" She smiled shyly.

 "I love you, too." He gave her a happy grin.

Serena stared at him for a second before slowly moving her face towards his.

He followed suit, slightly unsure of what was happening, but knowing what to do nevertheless.

Serena closed the distance between their faces, closing her eyes, and...

For the first time after multiple interrupted attempts...

Like, a lot of interrupted times...

So many times....

But this time....

They weren't interupted.

This time...

They kissed.

________........________

When they parted, Ash and Serena looked at each other, eyes sparkling. 

Serena studied him, making sure he was alright. He looked exhausted, in pain, and he was holding his left arm strangely, but on his face was the purest look of joy she had ever seen on him.

Ash looked at Serena, and her smile made him realize that he wanted to see her smile like that every day.

Naturally, Gary found this the time to break up the moment.

"Hate to interrupt you two lovebirds, but I'd like to take a moment to talk with my friend who is not, in fact, dead, without watching a scene from a cheesy romance movie."

Ash simply smiled at Gary, too tired and happy to care that he had interupted the moment. "Glad to see you're not dead too, Gary."

As he studied his friend's face closer, he realised something. "Gary, were you... crying?" Ash stifled a laugh. His best (human) friend crying after his supposed death shouldn't really be funny, but it definetly was.

Naturally, Gary denied it wholeheartedly. "What?! Of course not! My eyes were just irritated from all the dust in the room. "

That would have been a great excuse had the winds from the explosion and giant aura sphere not dusted everything off.

"You were, in fact, crying." Paul added unhelpfuuly.

"Well, you're one to talk! You were crying, too!" Gary backed.

"No I was not!" Paul turned on defense, which was just as hilarious.

Ash chuckled as Gary and Paul started fighting again before turning back to Serena, his eyelids drooping from exhaustion.

"I'm glad everyone's okay..." He said, smiling, before drifting off into a peaceful, non-death defying slumber.

Serena smiled at him, glad he was okay too.

________........________

Just then, the door burst open, and Officer Jenny arrived. 

Behind her were multiple other police officers, obviously looking to find out why the explosion hadn't gone off.

"Kids, there was supposed to be an explosion, but..." She trailed off when she saw the state of the room and the occupants in it. There were still tiny bits of aura floating around, and the floor was blackened where the bomb had exploded. Then there was Serena, who was sitting on the floor holding an unconsious Ash.

"What happened?" She simply asked instead.

"Well," Started Gary, glad to reply to her question. "That guy right there," He said, pointing to the conked-out Ash, "just saved our lives, as well as any other lives that would have been lost had the tower blown up." he smiled proudly.

"Do you think you can give me more details?" She asked, eyeing the burn mark on the floor from the bomb, Ash laying on the ground, out cold, and the gaggle of unharmed teens in the same room a bomb had been in.

"Sure, but do you think we can get him and his pokemon to a pokemon center first?" Gary requested.

"Of course, I"ll help you there." Officer Jenny clicked a button on her radio.

"Can we get a stretcher in here? There's an injured teen and his pokemon who need to see Nurse Joy."

"*Roger that, stretcher coming right up.*"

The man on the other side of the radio wasn't lying because a few moments later, two men holding a stretcher entered the room and lifted Ash onto it.

"Now, if you kids could follow me to the station and help he fill in a few details..." Serena, Gary, Paul, Lucario and Pikachu followed Officer Jenny and the two men out of the tower.

But before that, Gary whispered to Paul, "I told you Officer Jenny wouldn't be helpful".