Chapter Text
Ash’s awareness of the outside world comes slowly.
There is something on his face.
What is that on his face? Is that a hand? It taps his cheek lightly and runs its fingers through his hair.
“Wake up, Ash. Ash, please. You have to. Oh, God…” A voice cries out. It’s familiar, and Ash wants to speak up and reassure it, but he can’t.
He senses…is he upside down? Why would he be upside down?
The last thing he remembers was…was the headlights, coming right for him. How he swerved, but the car was hit, and…and he must have flipped the Jeep.
Ash begins to open his eyes, blinded momentarily by the bright red and blue lights shining in his face. He reaches out blindly and his hand touches something warm and sticky.
“Ash? Ash, are you with me? Can you hear me?” Ash turns his head slightly and identifies the voice.
“K-k…Kukui-hakase?” Ash murmurs, shifting more toward him then abruptly stopping when white-hot pain shoots through his whole body.
Holy hell, what…
“Ash! Ash, I need you to just be still, please. The paramedics are almost here. They’re gonna get you out, okay? Just stay with me. Don’t close your eyes, please .” Kukui continues caressing his face, forcing Ash to be a bit more alert.
He looks around and identifies the source of the sticky stuff his hand touched. The airbag was deflated in front of him and stained crimson all over. His face felt…warm. Wet. His nose throbbed.
He looks down, seeing something shiny. One, two…no, three pieces of metal are lodged in his belly, like spoons stuck in ice cream.
His right leg is twisted over the dashboard, and pieces of bone are poking out in several places. Rivers of blood run down his leg and cloud the faint lights of the dashboard.
The radio was still playing a poppy tune.
“What…what happened?” Ash squeaks out, unable to tear his gaze from the blood covering the inside of the car.
Kukui takes hold of Ash’s hand. “You were in a wreck.”
“…’S my fault?” Ash murmurs quietly.
“No! No, no, no. He hit you . You did nothing wrong, keiki. I’m so proud of you.” Kukui smiles—though Ash can tell he’s crying.
A stretch of silence passes through the atmosphere—well, near silence; the echo of sirens and the radio fills the quiet, tense space.
Ash breaks the near-silence. “This is the lamest way I’ve ever died.” He chuckles softly, then immediately regrets it when he coughs up blood.
Kukui gasps and stammers. “Please don’t say that, Ash. You’re not going to die. Not on my watch.” He reaches in the busted window and caresses Ash’s cheek when his young, wide brown eyes close slowly. “Stay with me. Stay with me.”
“No. No, I can’t, Hakase…” Ash slurs and gently nudges Kukui’s hand away from his face. “This is the last time…the last time. I can’t cheat death again."
“Ash, no! You are going to be fine. You have to be. Don’t give up!” Kukui sobs, and in doing so, drives a stake in Ash’s heart.
“Professor, please, don’t be…sad. ‘M not hurting. ’S not your fault.” Ash takes a long, shaky inhalation. “’T was gonna happen eventually. Might as well be now…” He shrugs his shoulders ever-so-slightly and attempts a toothy grin. “Take good care of my Pokemon, will you…?”
“Ash…God, Ash, please don’t do this. You’re so young, you have your whole life ahead of you—“ Kukui pauses when Ash shushes him gently.
“Hakase. I am so tired.” Ash blinks slowly. “Let me go.”
Kukui sobs again. “No! I can’t!”
“Hakase…”
“I won’t !”
“Please…”
“Stop! God, make it stop !”
“I have to…”
“NO!” Kukui shrieks as if he were as wounded as Ash. “DON’T LEAVE ME!”
“I love you…”
Ash’s vision blacks out while the symphony of sirens and screaming and pop music continues in his ear.
…
Satoshi, why have you come to us?
Mew, I—
Satoshi, I thought we agreed that your time was not up yet.
I—
No excuses. Listen to me carefully.
Ash remains silent.
You aren’t finished with your time on Earth. We still have many tasks for you.
…Why me?
You will receive the answer to your question only if you reside on Earth longer.
But—
It is not only the Legendaries that need you. A human on Earth shall be your anchor to life. Go. The Hall of Origin demands it.
…
“ASH! ASH, WAKE UP!”
Arms are around him, shaking him gently. Someone was crying and screaming.
Oh, shit, it’s Kukui-hakase.
Wonder what happened…
Oh. Oh, shit. It’s me.
Kukui quiets to soft groans. “No, no, no, no…Ash… no ..."
Ash tries to move, but just a twitch of his thumb sends explosive pain through his body—pain that he blocked out before. But now it’s here, full force. This is more painful than any other way he's died. And he was supposed to live through this? What was Mew thinking ?
“Ash...?” Kukui takes a delicate hold of the thumb he just twitched. He murmurs incomprehensibly in Alolan, and Ash feels him stroke his hair ever-so-gently.
Ash lets one of his fingers twitch and curl around Kukui’s forearm. Another jolt of white-hot, tear-inducing pain ripples through him.
Kukui quiets.
“…Are you…are you here, Ash?”
Ash steels himself against the pain he knows will come. But he has to open his eyes for Kukui-hakase.
Mew said he had to live. So, he will.
Ash slowly raises his eyelids, squinting in the flashing lights again. His lips flutter.
“…’M here now.”
Kukui’s grip on him tightens as he sobs, nearly silent. “I…I thought you…you were...the paramedics said you…so we pulled you out of the Jeep and now...” He trails off as Ash’s eyes wander.
“‘M not leaving.” Ash takes a shaky exhalation, feeling each of the metal pieces in his abdomen quiver. “Can’t. Mew said I can’t.”
Kukui’s eyes narrow for a moment—Ash can tell he’s confused by that comment. But he seems to disregard it. “Okay. Okay. Just stay, Ash. Promise me.”
Ash rolls his head gently to rest in the crook of Kukui’s elbow. “Promise.”
Kukui stays quiet as he and Ash lock eyes.
Ash notices how his upper lip quivers and how glimmering tears run down his cheeks.
Second by second, minute by minute, hour by…( wait, had an hour even passed? ), Ash’s mind gets fuzzier—his nerves are dulled by blinding pain. All he can focus on is Kukui’s trembling lips, speaking without Ash comprehending. It’s comforting.
All that mattered was the anchor that Mew talked about.
Ash was pretty sure Mew meant Kukui-hakase.
So Ash keeps his eyes locked on Kukui, even while the world gets blurry and black and painful and he somehow ends up inside an ambulance. How did he get here? What happened? Ash couldn’t remember. He’s pretty sure he died, but how? Maybe it was a legendary. Yeah, it was probably that.
Ash was about to open his mouth to ask what was going on, but a man in scrubs taps his shoulder. “You’re gonna feel a little prick and then you’ll feel sleepy, okay?”
“ No! No, no, I can’t! Hakase said I had to stay awake!” Ash tries to explain. But the paramedic just gives him a blank look. “ …What’s going on? Please, I can’t go to sleep!”
Kukui shushes Ash softly and squeezes Ash’s hand. He hadn’t even realized Kukui was holding it. “ You’re speaking in Kantonian, keiki . It’s alright. They’re just going to give you something for the pain .”
“ No… Hakase, I don’t want to go to sleep, what if I…you said— “
“ I know I did. But it’s okay now. You can go to sleep. It’ll be alright. ” Kukui smiles gently and runs a thumb over Ash’s knuckles.
“ No. Tell them I said no. I’m staying awake. "
Kukui gives him a pleading look, but when Ash doesn’t back down, Kukui’s eyes leave Ash’s to face the paramedics. They exchange a few hushed words, then Kukui turns back to Ash. “ Keiki…they’re gonna __ your leg. It’s going to be too painful to be awake for. ”
Ash ponders this with his fuzzy, clouded mind. What did he say?
Kukui reads his mind. “ I’m sorry. I don’t know the word in Kantonian, ” he explains. Ash realizes that Kukui must have been talking to him in Kantonian the whole time.
“ ’S fine, ’s fine. Um…Uh, what’you think I should do? ” Ash probes. He genuinely cannot think straight. Kukui-hakase will make a smart decision.
Kukui smiles, and Ash immediately knows he made a good decision to ask him. “ I think you should go ahead and let them give you the medicine. Okay? ”
What medicine? Was there medicine? Ash couldn’t remember … “ Okay, Hakase, I’take the medicine. ”
Kukui gives Ash another bright, reassuring smile, then talks to the paramedics in words that Ash couldn’t understand.
He's really cold. And really sleepy. And…holy shit, he can’t think straight.
“ Alright, keiki. I’ll be here when you wake up, okay? ”
Ash moves to reply but feels his eyes closing without his permission.