"But Serena..." Ash looked back at the truck and stood up. "I don't think that was an accident...and I think you are a target."

---------

a/n: minor panic attacks

---------

...

Those words continued to repeat in her head over and over. 

It can't be real. Why? Why is she being targeted?

Her shocked gaze were stuck on the sight of her frozen feet. She didn't want to believe it, but it suddenly felt colder than it should be. 

The street light flickered above them briefly, causing her to flinch at the sudden shadows around her as her mind continued running. 

"No..not just why..but who?" She heard Ash thought to himself out loud...or was it just all in her head? She's slowly losing her mind.

Serena doesn't recall anyone who despise her this much. A rival, perhaps? But even for a rival this is way too far! Even if it's possible, she's stumped. Unfortunately for her, she doesn't pay too much to her surroundings to even notice anyone. But she tries to name anyone suspicious on the top of her head. 

Is it the person next door who frowns at her every day she walks out? Or was it that fancy lady who yells at her every time she passed by her? Or was it the mailman who strangely comes to her door every single morning? 

Her head started to spin. 

No, no. This is getting ridiculous, Serena thought with a sigh. It could be someone in school. Or perhaps a close friend  who's possibly two-faced with me?  A stranger? A creeper who stalks her when she comes home from school? Or...or..?

The ground looks like it's going to consume her. 

How about the people who are close to me? My mom? Dawn? Are they even safe with me?

The ringing in her ear began to get louder and was suddenly pulled into a memory where she saw her younger self holding her precious flute...that's suddenly painted in a color that's not even hers: Black. 

Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? 

Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?

Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?

Why is it always me!?

Serena felt two hands on her shoulders and the owner's voice calling out to her. Her focus was snatched away from the concrete ground to Ash's concerned expression. She wanted to say something to him. Anything! The one time she actually wanted to express her true feelings and emotions... But, no...her lips wouldn't move a single word and she felt her energy draining. Her hands began to feel numbed and her vision became blurry.

What is this feeling...?

Ah, Serena realizes something before blacking out...

Oh...that's right...

It's fear.

----------------

The next time Serena woke up, she found herself in an unfamiliar room. The lights were dimmed and could hear voices outside of the room. She felt sore and heavy, so didn't bother to try getting out of the bed covers. 

"What..." She trailed off when everything came back to her. 

Oh right. The crash incident.

But how is she here now? She looked around and then recognized the clothing she's wearing. Nice. I'm at the hospital again. 

Before she could think of any more questions, the door was suddenly opened wide. "Serena!"

Her mom jumped over to her with a hug. "Are you hurt? Do you feel any pain? Do we need to go get the doctor again? Let me take a look at you just to make sure." 

She shook her head and casually responded to her. "I'm just sore all over. It's probably because of the lack of sleep I've been getting. I'm not hurt." 

"Is that so? Because that's not the only thing that the doctor said." Her mom stopped pestering her and put her hands on her hips with a frown on her face. That's not good.

She watched her mother's eye twitch with a deep frown, screaming trouble to her.  

"Ah, excuse me..?" a new voice entered in the room. 

They both looked over at the door, and there stood Ash holding a sandwich in one of his hands and the other is with a phone. "This is probably a bad time, but the phone rang, and it is for you ma'am." 

Her mom sighed in exasperation before giving her a stern look. "This is not over yet young lady. We will continue this discussion later." 

After that, she went over to Ash and answered the phone. Serena watched her mom leave the room in a hurry, but she found it strange how Ash just stood by the door struggling to keep his hamburger together before shoving it in his mouth.

A few moments passed and she gave in. Serena spoke with a small voice. "Uh do you want to come in?"

Ash was in a middle of munching on his sandwich and barely heard her words. "What did you say?" Apparently food is his first priority. 

She slowly blinked at the other. To her eyes, it almost looks like he's a puppy who only cares about his food or squeaky toy. But of course, she doesn't tell him that. "Just..Just sit here while you eat. You look..awkward just standing there eating by the door." 

He smiled and walked in and sat next to her. Serena let out a sigh and started thinking. She didn't want to push herself, but one certain memory came into her mind: 

"Don't be afraid to let people in! And perhaps, just perhaps! You can even find the one!"

Serena frowned at young Dawn's words as they walked to their next class. "You say the weirdest things sometimes."

Her friend humphed at her and waved her phone around. "That's what they say! Come on, as your friend, I need to make sure you are getting the best advice of today!"

She marched ahead with her fist up in the air as Serena followed from behind.

Now, she watched the boy next to her adding more ketchup in his hamburger. She doesn't what expression she had on her face when he briefly glanced at her, giving her a warm smile before digging into his food once more. 

She bit her lip, hesitantly watching him devour his burger. What am I doing? 

----------------

Serena couldn't recall what happened after she passed out and tried asking Ash for details. 

 "No, you should be resting. That's for later." He rebutted and continues eating. 

"But I already did." She narrowed her eyes. 

With his mouth full, he shook his head. "That's not enough."

With their banter going back and forth, Ash reluctantly agreed to come in only if Serena would try to sleep later after. 

Ash licked his fingers with great satisfaction. "Your mom makes the best hamburgers! It was probably the best one I had in my life!"

Serena does agree. Her mom is quite a cook. But that's not what she wants to talk about. "What happened after I blacked out?"

"I brought you here since we weren't too far from where you lived," Ash shrugged. 

She then looked at him suspiciously. "How do you know where I live?"

Ash opened his mouth, but nothing came out at first. But when he did all that came out was: "It's..eh..a wild guess?" 

She frowned. "Just..forget it. I don't think I can handle it now anyway. But what happened to the crash?"

Changing the topic seemed to ease him. "Don't worry. We took care of it."

"Who's we?"

"Me and your mom." He took another bite. "I explained the situation to her."

Oh. She's definitely dead after realizing she tried lying to her earlier... Of course she knew! She's in the hospital for pete's sake! "So she already knew... But is that it?"

"What do you mean?" Clearly still focusing on his sandwich. 

"What happened after that?" Serena's patience was growing really thin. 

"Your mom handled the rest, saying how she can take care of it. But because we are present in the scene, we probably have to talk to the officials about the incident."

"So that's who she is talking to right now?"

He nodded his head. 

Serena played with the hem of her blanket, clearly stressed out of today's event. But she watched Ash sitting by her bedside once more, taking his sweet time eating his...exactly how many hamburgers did he have?

Ash probably felt her stare, and gave her a confused look. "What? Is there something on my face?"

"Uh..No, it's nothing..."

----------------

"I can't believe it! A car crash!" Serena grimaced from Dawn's scream over the phone. She called minutes after Ash finally finished eating and left the room. Probably to grab more food.  

"Well more like a truck I think..? But please keep it down. I really don't want anyone else to know right now..."

"Okay, but have you at least contacted the police?! That's at least the reasonable thing to do for an extreme incident like this!" 

"My mom is talking to them right now." Serena heard the sigh of relief on the other side of the phone. It's nice knowing that someone cares about the situation from the outside. 

"Hey Serena!" She turned to the door and saw Ash holding ice cream in his hand with a huge grin plastered on his face. "Your mom gave me ice cream and was asking if you want some."

Serena gave out an annoyed sigh, and almost forgot about Dawn on the phone. "Is that Ash?! Why is he there?! You never have other guests but me!"

With his mouth occupied, he heard the muffled voice. "Oh! Is that Dawn?"

"Yeah it's me! Why are you with Sere?!"

"He was with me when the vehicle crashed," Serena brought the phone closer to her. "So we're dealing with the situation now." 

"Oh...OH." A long silence passed by for a moment before Dawn spoke again. But Serena has a feeling that there's something else going on in her friend's mind. "Well! I have to go now. But you're not done with me yet!"

The call abruptly ended and Serena knew she's going to be bombarded with questions by her very soon. 

"Oh and Serena. Your mom said needs to talk to you."

He took another bite of the ice cream. 

When she saw her mom, she wasn't on the phone anymore, but she did had that frustrated look on her face. When she saw Serena and Ash in the room, she gave them a tense smile. "Oh good. You are here."  

"Is there an issue mom?"     

"Well...Unfortunately, this investigation may take awhile since there's barely any footage of the incident, but they do said that they will update us if anything new comes up. But they will need to talk to you sooner or later."

Serena clenched her hands. It seemed that her mom noticed her uneasiness since she took her hands in hers and squeezed them. "We will think of something in the meantime. For now, I think it's best if you have a friend with you at all times when I'm not with you. Just in case another..incident like this might happen again."

A friend? Serena thought otherwise. "Do you mean a bodyguard?"

Her mom burst into laughter ignoring Serena's glare. "Ah no, not like that. When you are with friends, you can feel more safe with the people you are familiar with. Just like Ash over here."

Huh?

"In fact, I believe Ash is more than happy to walk you home from school too. If I recall, he doesn't live too far from here. Am I right?"

He nodded, giving her a thumbs up.

"But I'm not-" she started but stopped after her mom gave her the look, before giving out a sweet smile. 

"Great now that all solved. We can now rest easily." She yawned and started to leave the hospital room. "Ah, it's been a long day and I think I'm going to go grab something for myself really quick. Serena, I'll be back in a bit so we can discuss with the physician. And Ash, make sure you get home safe."

"I will. Thanks," Ash grinned as she left before turning to Serena. "Now it's your turn to hold your end of the deal."

Serena sighed dejectedly. "Right. Get some rest." 

As if there's anything else she rather do. 

----------

"Are you sure this is a good idea, Mrs. Yvonne?" Ash was hesitant on the idea. The two conversed after letting Serena get some rest in the room. 

"I think..it is. Even if it's not, I would take it anyway. If anything happens to Serena, I need you to use all options to protect her..even the risky ones." Grace gave him a pleading look. A look that proves her great love and concern for her daughter. 

Ash knew he couldn't deny her, despite how much he is against it. But words from his father came to him, reminding him his true purpose. Giving in, he nodded. "Alright."

He didn't expect to be suddenly be pulled in a big hug. "Thank you. Just...thank you." Those were the heavy, hushed words he heard from her before leaving. 

------------

A/n

Uh so I'm here again hehe...

Also, I apologize for posting this very very late chapter. T-T  I planned to post this way back to celebrate Ash's last ep in the series, but life and school is really draining me out so I'm so sorry for the inactivity. 

Anyway, while I was out, I have been looking over the posted chapters and there are some changes/clarifications that I want to point out: 

       -   Serena, Ash, and their friends are actually in High School. I have no idea why I put Middle School in the first chapter, but no, they are in high school.

      -   We have yet to explore the full truth of Serena's "incident," but it did took place when she's in elementary school. Serena is also a music prodigy and has been one since at a young age. 

      -    Serena actually reveals most her emotional(?) self  to close friends such as Dawn, although her expressions doesn't say the same. However, since the incident, everyone knows her as someone who's "closed off" to many and would often be in deep thought. 

      -    Serena, Ash, Dawn, and Gary were all in the same summer camp when they were in kids that took place around the time when Serena became a music prodigy. 

 I guess that's all I have to say for now. I still don't have a fixed update, now that the end of college is near but I do hope to write whenever I can. 

 Happy reading and beware of the errors! But if you enjoy this story, don't forget to like and comment! They really help me get motivated to write more, so thank you for that :)

See u next time!

~ari_sheepie