Summary: She loved him, but yet she couldn't remember his face. AshMay Advanceshipping

Author's notes: My first angst/romance story. Yay! :D

...Okay, angst is sort of bad for me, considering that I usually write humour. Ah well.

Anyway, if you support AshMay in this sort of context, go vote for 'Dear Diary' on my profile page. It's about how May goes through a break-up. Will have some Advanceshippy moments, I suppose.

And to someone out there (it's completely unrelated to this. you wouldn't even read this, but...), I'm sorry about that night. Friends?

She loved him, but yet she couldn't remember his face.

What a cruel irony, she thought bitterly to herself. She knew him, she understood him and she could even recognise him from afar. The way he walked, his legs ajar, and a smile playing on his lips. His bright eyes sparkling with glee when he saw her. His quickening pace towards her. The way she felt her cheeks heat up. How he laughed, how he grinned cheekily, how he chatted. How his hair was always unkempt, no matter how May tried to poke it down.

She knew him so well. She couldn't remember his face.

It had been an exhausting day, on that day she met Ash. Perhaps it was the workload weighing down on her, or the fact that she had to run around the hall, something that she absolutely hated.

But May still remembered how it came about.

He was there, laughing with all his friends. He had just finished an insane game of basketball; May had been observing. His skin was wet, sticky and gleaming with the sheen of perspiration, and his shirt stuck to his lean body.

The brunette had been quietly reading on a table, under the classroom block next to the basketball court. She had intently watched the boy skilfully score, minute after minute, as he deftly dodged and avoided his opponents. It wasn't just a basketball match, it was entirely HIS match.

His eyes never faltered somewhere else, and he was dead set on scoring, eager to dribble past what seemed like a dozen of his friends, excited to revel in his newest slam dunk.

May enjoyed his sheer determination, his undivided concentration. His smile was refreshing, something the brunette could never be bored of.

Then, she realised the time, and she struggled to shove everything into her bag, already brimming with contents. May heaved up her bag, and took a final glance at the basketball match, already wrapping up.

That was when his burning, exhilarated auburn eyes met her curious, innocent sapphire eyes. They paused in their tracks. Ash was almost hit by the ball. His friends laughed at his carelessness. The boy laughed back, but he continued looking at May.

When she eventually went back home, while she was alone on the bus, her iPod playing a soothing song ("Beautiful Soul" by Jesse McCartney, if she wasn't mistaken; she had a knack for remembering the simplest of things), May thought back. She remembered the heated match, she remembered his silhoutte.

But somehow, she couldn't place a finger on how this seemingly charming boy looked like. May was rather disturbed by that fact.

Hurriedly, she took out her sketchbook, doodling incessantly, hoping to dig out an answer. She drew her favourite video game character, Roxas from Kingdom Hearts; she could remember every minute detail of the character's hair, every contour of his face, his attire, everything.

She couldn't do the same about that boy. She didn't know why.

Hurt and rather remorseful, May threw herself into deep thought for the entire journey back home. She racked her brain for his face, how he smiled, how he laughed.

She was enthralled by him. She couldn't remember his face.

Soon, they figured out each other's names, their class. They met. They chatted. They liked what they heard.

I don't know how you do what you do
I'm so in love with you
It just keeps getting better
I want to spend the rest of my life
With you by my side
Forever and ever
Every little thing that you do
Baby, I'm amazed by you

May's lips curved to form a smile, as Ash gently stroked her hair, tucking her chestnut brown hair behind her ear. "Like the song?" he asked, as he switched off his iPod, plucking the earpiece out of her ear. His hand lingered slightly, before pulling away. He offered her a lick of his ice cream, and she obliged sweetly. She rested her head on his shoulder, as the couple, watching the sunset on top of a building, sighed simultaneously. He wrapped his arm around her, pulling her close.

"Just keeps getting better." the brunette replied, as she grinned. Ash laughed, and his hand inched towards hers. Slowly, delicately, he picked her hand up, lacing his fingers between her own. He guided their intertwined hand to rest on his chest: where his heart was.

"I love you." he whispered into her ear softly, his eyes full of sincerity; May knew he wasn't lying.

He pulled her into an awkward embrace, his head resting on her crown of hair, their two hands intertwined. May couldn't speak, she was dumbfounded, speechless.

Yet so...happy.

As she crawled into bed that night, she closed her eyes, a smile on her face, as she struggled to dream of situations beyond reality, where she, the princess, would always be saved by her prince. It spawned from medieval times, to Ash and May suddenly being granted extreme powers to save the world...

To simple things, like May watching in awe as Ash took down all her assailants with his fists, the two riding off together on a horse, watching the sunset...anything and everything was possible.

The only problem was that she couldn't see his dashing face.

Tragic.

In the midst of the night, as May contemplated this bugging problem, she decided to check her phone; there was a photo of him, somewhere. The bright screen flickered as May breezed through her gallery, determined to find the photo.

When she found it, the girl smiled contentedly to herself. She could recognise him; finally.

Closing her eyes, she let her thoughts trail back to her fantasy world. She coloured his face in; it was vague, it didn't look like him at all. Disappointed, May hastily started to look at every detail of the boy. The cycle repeated itself, with May groaning in frustration as she swept her phone up again to look at him.

Finally, she gave up. She closed her eyes. Sleeping.

She loved him too. She couldn't remember his face.

"Thank you." he uttered, as those soft eyes met her stoic gaze. She felt some part of her die, but she wasn't bothered.

It was over.

'cause when you're fifteen and somebody tell you they love you
You're gonna believe them
When you're fifteen and your first kiss
Makes your head spin round but
In your life you'll do things greater than dating the boy of the football team
But I didn't know it at fifteen

May laughed to herself, twirling the wire of her iPod in one hand, her other hand currently brezzing through her textbook. This boy was the official basketball team captain. She'd done things greater than dating Ash Ketchum; she became the chairman of the photography club. She scored straight As. Valedictorian of the school, even. She was smart, she knew it.

But she was surprised when she didn't know that it was absolutely stupid, foolish even, for her to have fallen in love.

Another laugh, as she continued her studying. Frankly, May herself was contemplating if she truly loved him.

The brunette closed her book, her mind distracted by the nagging thought. She flipped open her sketchbook, as she browsed through her sketches of random items. May smiled as she saw the last page; Ash.

She traced the outline of his face, lingering on his lips, and then she smiled. She couldn't remember his face, so she had requested Ash to smile for her to sketch. The boy obliged, of course; he couldn't pass up the perfect opportunity to look at her.

That was a year ago. She knew it because there was a date at the bottom, with a heart carefully drawn out next to it.

May closed the book, sighing to herself. She staggered to her bed, not bothering to switch off the lights. She closed her eyes, trying to remember everything that had ever happened to Ash and May when they were still a couple.

Back then I swore I was gonna marry him someday
But I realized some bigger dreams of mine

She grinned sheepishly to herself. Yep, she knew she was going to marry him.

That was then. Now, she had bigger plans. She wanted to live. She wanted to travel. She wanted to do well, excel in everything. She wanted to experience anything and everything the world had to offer.

Maybe she wanted to be loved, and to love in return, but that wasn't important now. Maybe not ever.

She struggled, once again, to remember his face. His spiky raven hair. His lightning bolt marks. The way he grinned. Maybe all this wasn't real, maybe it was; May couldn't distinguish anymore.

May got up, shivering from the mild chill of her room. She looked at herself in the mirror.

And then, she sobbed softly, burying her face into her hands.

She loved him before. She couldn't remember his face.

She missed him. She couldn't remember his face.

Remember.

A/N: The first song was 'Amazed' by Lonestar; maybe you've read it in my other AshMay stories before. The last two stanzas are from 'Fifteen' by Taylor Swift.

Come to think of it, they were the first and last songs you recommended to me, no? Coincidental. Meh.

Review my depressingly depressing story!