So I've been working on this for a while, and decided to finish/post it today. It escalates rather quickly, but I think it makes sense...

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Enjoy!

"I cannot believe you dragged me into this, Ash Ketchum!" Misty shouted. "After what happened last time you decided we should go up a snowy mountain, we'll be lucky to see tomorrow!"

"Aw, Misty," Ash turned to smirk, "What's the worst that could happen?"

"Uh, I don't know, hypothermia, frostbite, maybe death? That good enough for you?" she snapped, pulling her red coat tighter around her.

"Oh, quit it." he continued to march uphill on the narrow trail. "We're prepared this time."

"And starting out so late in the day." she muttered.

"It's only four!"

"It's also the dead of winter! It's Janurary, Ash, the sun sets at five." Looking around, Misty sighed. "We should stop bickering. Save our breath a little. It'll keep us warm."

"I'm fine." Ash argued. "Not even cold!" He threw his arms out and turned his face to the sky, laughing. Misty couldn't help smiling a little at his determination; she admired that, really. Suddenly he stopped, crossing his russet eyes in an attempt to stare at the tip of his nose. Misty circled in front of him and laughed at his wide-eyed expression.

"Aw, Ashy, scared of a little itty-bitty snowflake, are we?" she teased.

"It was...so cold." he admitted, blinking quickly and bringing his arms to his sides. "Like it was made of ice or something."

"What do you think a snowflake is, Ash?" Misty sighed again.

"Uh, snow?" he offered. The redhead's palm hit her face. "I was serious!"

"That just makes it worse." she mumbled. "Hm?" She looked up toward the pale grey clouds. Ash's gaze followed hers. Gentle flakes of snow were floating towards the ground.

"It's snowing!" Misty cried, giggling. But quickly, the clouds turned dark and the flakes fell harder, now accompanied by a sharp, icy wind. The redhead shivered and buried her hands deep in her coat pockets. Turning to Ash, she glared, fire blazing through her emerald eyes. "Why'd you have to go and make it snow like this?"

"Me?" Ash squeaked in surprise. "How did I-"

"You were the one who said you weren't cold! Now there's going to be a blizzard and we're going to freeze to death!" she accused.

"We are not going to freeze to death." he countered. "We just need to find some shelter."

"Find some shelter?" she echoed. "Didn't you bring the tent?"

"Tent?" he questioned innocently. "What tent?"

"The one Brock, your mother - and most of all, I - told you to bring?" she snapped. Getting only a blank look in return, she sighed and sunk into the snow. "So much for not freezing."

"Misty, I'm sorry." Ash tried to patch things up, fairly weakly, but honestly, he was getting tired. The cold was getting to him now.

"It's not your fault." she near-whispered, eyes not meeting his, and Ash felt his heart split in two. "I should have checked that we had everything. It's not your fault." she repeated.

"Yes, it is." he insisted. "I was stupid." Receiving no reply, he sat cross-legged on the snow, head in his hands. It was his fault, but Misty was right on one account - they would freeze without shelter. They were going to freeze to death because of him.

She was going to die because of him.

He glanced over to where she sat, shivering. It made him feel awful. It was his pleading that had brought her out here, and his stupidity that would cause her death. His smart-ass, annoying, hotheaded, emerald-eyed traveling companion of five years.

His best friend.

He clenched his fists and a determined gleam shone in his chestnut eyes. There was little hope - no hope, really - of getting them back safely, but Arceus be damned if he wasn't at least going to try.

The sun was going down. It was getting very cold very fast. "It's going to be too dark to see soon." he croaked, throat dry from the bitterness.

"Yeah."

"We at least need to find someplace sort of sheltered." he went to stand.

"What does it matter?" she scoffed, but there was a catch in her voice. "We're going to freeze anyway."

"Says who?" The raven-haired trainer argued, trying to sound brave. "Misty, I don't know why you're acting this way." He admitted, genuinely puzzled. "We've stared death in the face plenty of times and come out fine. We've been to hell and back and we're still here to get ourselves back into this situation, aren't we? Why should today be any different?"

"I don't know." she said weakly, shuddering as a chilly breeze swept over them.

"Come on, Misty. Don't tell me you're giving up? That's not the Misty I know." he put his arms around her and pulled her to a standing position. She was stiff, as if she had been freezing in place, and both were wet from the snow falling ever faster. The wind picked up. Now it was deafening; he couldn't hear her quiet reply. "Misty, please..." Keeping his arms around her, supporting her frail body, he walked. He had no idea where he was going, but it was progress.

Time seemed to slow; minutes dragged on in a sluggish procession. He could feel her weakening, getting colder and harder to support. Every stumble was hours.

Finally Ash spotted something. A dark spot in the side of the mountain. It was maybe fifty yards off.

"Misty," he shouted above the wind, "I think I found a cave!"

There was no reply from the redhead. She was trembling, shaking really badly. She was so weak. He couldn't let go of her at all or she'd fall. They'd never make it to the cave. Unless...

With one motion, Ash took one of his arms off of her and swung it behind her legs, taking the girl into his arms. There. He'd be faster now.

And he was, reaching the dark spot in minutes. He breathed a sigh of relief, it was in fact a cave. It was small, barely big enough for the both of them, but it would work. He set Misty gently down on the ice at the back of the cave and searched through both bags for blankets, jackets, anything. He found three blankets total and a hoodie each.

He paused. He really didn't know what to do. All of those things Misty had talked about - hypothermia, frostbite - were now terribly realistic. They were both soaked and exhausted; she was unconscious, he thought. It hurt to think about, but it was true: there was no hope.

But he had to try.

He took Misty's wet coat off of her and secured the hoodie around her. He began to do the same with the blanket but stopped. She really needed warmed up. Body heat, right?

Unzipping his own coat, he picked the redhead up again and sat down where she had, setting her on his lap. He draped all three blankets around the both of them and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close, her head on his chest, facing him. She was still so cold. But he couldn't do anything else. He closed his eyes, drew her even closer, and prayed to Arceus that someway, somehow, they'd make it through this. That she'd make it through this.

He couldn't let her die.

Groggily, Misty opened her eyes. It was nearly pitch-black, and she could barely see a thing. All she really knew was that she was cold. So, so cold. Except for her head; it was resting on something warm.

Subconsciously she shuddered violently, and felt something behind her stir. Wait- it wasn't just behind her, it was around her. Encasing her. She hadn't noticed, but the warmth her head lay on was rising and falling, gently, slowly...

"Misty?"

The hoarse voice caused her eyes to snap wide open. She wasn't alone. She turned her face the only way she could: up.

A pair of concerned russet eyes gazed down at her from under a mess of midnight-colored hair.

"Oh my Arceus. Do you have any idea how glad I am to see you awake?" he whispered. "I don't even have any idea how late it is. It's still snowing. I've been doing good to keep my eyes open."

Misty let him ramble while her fuzzy mind tried to grasp what had happened. The pieces had almost all come together when something he said caught her attention.

"We're not going to die, you know."

"Ash." she mumbled before he could keep talking. "How?"

"Because I say so." he stated with confidence. "Because we can do it." He leaned close to her ear and whispered, "Because we have each other."

Misty felt a hot blush spread across her face despite the situation. "But if we do..." she whispered. "I...I want you to know..." her eyes flitted closed.

Ash drew his breath in quickly. She was getting weaker. The cold had already gotten to her. She was slipping from him. "What?" he prompted. "What do I need to know?" Anything to keep her talking. Anything to keep her from falling asleep. Because if she did…

She would never wake up again.

The promise of sleep was all too tempting for Misty. She was safe, wrapped up in Ash's strong arms. Maybe it wouldn't be too bad, living the last few moments of her life in his embrace; at least, her freezing body tried to tell her so. Only one thing kept her from giving in to temptation.

He had to know.

Slowly she opened her eyes again. "Ash…"

"What is it, Mist?" he asked quietly.

"I want you to know…" she tried to speak, but it was becoming more and more difficult. She was too cold. Ash's hold on her was warming her as much as it could; if he hadn't thought of it, she probably would have already been dead. "I want you to know…that…" Foolish pride hindered her voice as well. It was hard, even with her last breath, to admit what she'd known in her heart for a very long time.

"That what, Mist?"

"I love you, Ash."

Those four words crossed her lips and turned Ash to stone. She went limp, her breathing so shallow it hardly seemed to exist. Her emerald eyes closed again and snapped Ash out of his solid position, his hands shaking. His whole body, shaking.

"Misty?" he croaked, emotion encasing his heart, tears filling his eyes. Never had the thought crossed his mind that he would ever be holding his best friend as she died, her last few words admitting love for him. Never.

But it had happened.

He pulled her delicate body in closer, burying his face in her fiery hair. He didn't even attempt to stop the tears welling in his eyes from flowing.

"Misty," he sobbed through clenched teeth, "Wake up. Please. You can't die! You can't die, please, you can't! You just can't! Wake up, Mist, please…I…I…I don't know what I'd do without you. I-I love you, too, Misty, just wake up…"

The cold, paired with the shock and the grief, was too much. Soon Ash relaxed as well, passed out. But his hold on Misty stayed strong.

Slowly he opened his eyes. Groggily they looked around. It was hard to make out much, but he could hear a steady beeping getting louder little by little. And he was cold through to the bone. He could barely move. He couldn't remember anything that had happened. One thing, however, hit him and struck with a sadness so sharp he emitted a strangled cry, fighting back tears.

Misty.

His companion, his loyal friend, gone.

"Ash?"

He turned his head towards the sound. A fuzzy, tall brown shape was making its way toward him. Eventually his eyes adjusted enough to see what it was.

"Brock?"

"Thank Arceus, you are awake. I was getting worried."

Ash turned his head away, to hide the tears from his older friend. "How'd you find me?"

"Pikachu was starting to freak out. He was going totally berserk. Somehow we figured out you were in trouble." Brock paused. "It took us ages to find you, Ash. You've been out for days. But...you were lucky."

Ash sighed. Lucky? How could he be lucky if Misty wasn't alive? How could he even be happy?

"They don't know about Misty." Brock said reluctantly. Ash felt a glimmer of hope in spite of himself.

"What do you mean? She's…"

"Severely hypothermic. But she was breathing, Ash. Barely, but she was. Same with you." The raven-haired trainer felt a heaviness lifted that was immediately replaced by Brock's next sentence: "But they don't know if she'll ever wake up."

"But...there's hope, right?" Ash asked slowly, turning his face back towards his friend.

"Not much." The brown-haired man admitted, soon wishing he hadn't as he saw his friend's face fall. "I'm sorry, Ash. I really..." he choked up, fighting tears himself. Misty was one of his best friends, too, after all. "I really am."

"It's not your fault." Ash jerked his head away again. It was about all he could move; he was still so cold. But Misty had to be worse off. "Can I...can I see her?"

"Tomorrow." Brock said gently. "You can see her tomorrow, and maybe there'll be news." Ash only sighed. "Man, everyone's worried sick about you two. Your mother's here, you know. She was sitting in here until a few hours ago. Pikachu was here, too. They're at home asleep, though, and-"

"Brock," Ash interrupted. "Stop talking. Please." he added, almost as an afterthought.

"All right." There was a moment's pause, and then: "I'm going to call your mother. Delia's got to know you woke up. But she's asleep. But she'll kill me if I kept news from-"

"Brock," Ash interrupted again, his voice more stern, though weak. "Stop."

"Okay, okay." Another pause, longer this time. "I don't know what we would have done if it weren't for Pikachu. I mean, he-"

"Shut up or get out!" Ash snarled, raising his head to glare at Brock, who, in turn, evacuated.

"I'll be...in the hall if you need me."

Ash lay his head back on the pillow and sighed again.

Ash sat up, grimacing. He had no idea what time it was; his eyes were still fuzzy, and the blinds over the window were closed. The entire room was nearly dark. It was empty, too.

Until the door opened.

A harsh light from the hallway filled the room and nearly blinded Ash, who raised his arm weakly to his eyes, grunting. After a few seconds, the light was gone, and he let his arm fall, blinking his eyes and trying to discern who had stepped in.

"Pikapi!" was the cry he heard seconds before a small yellow creature jumped up onto the bed. Ash gave the Pokémon a small smile before wrapping his arms around it. "Pika, Pikapi, Pikapi." it chattered joyfully.

"I'm glad to see you're awake." came the other voice. Ash and Pikachu turned. Ash's blurry russet eyes could only just tell who it was, and it helped that he knew her voice so well.

"Mom?" he croaked, his voice cracking, throat dry.

"Oh, Ash, honey, you don't know how worried I was! You and Misty were stuck out in the storm and..." All of her words faded from Ash's mind, except for one. Misty. He had to see her.

"Misty." he whispered, barely audible.

"Pi?" Pikachu asked him to repeat his utterance. Delia even stopped talking.

"What, Ash?"

"Misty." he repeated, his voice slightly stronger. His eyes weren't so fuzzy either, now. And he could move. Barely, but he was sure he could make it to Misty. "Have to...see her."

"Pi-kaaa..." the electric type muttered in discouragement. He knew Ash wasn't as strong as he thought he was.

"Um, of course, dear." his mother agreed. "I'll ask for a wheelchair."

"No." the raven-haired trainer argued. "I'll walk."

"If you insist, dear." Delia relented with a sigh.

It took them fifteen minutes to reach Misty's room, just down the hall. When they finally got there, Ash paused at the door. Did he really want to go in? Misty was laying in there, and Arceus only knew what condition she was in.

Slowly he opened the door and stumbled into the room. The sight that greeted him made him sick. His best friend was laying unconscious on a bed, covered up to her neck in stiff, starched-white sheets. Various beeping noises echoed solemnly around the space. They came from machines, almost all of them hooked to her in some way.

Ash let out a strangled cry. It hurt him more than he'd thought to see her this way.

"Mist..." he whispered hoarsely. "Mist. No." He began to realize the truth in Brock's words as the sight sunk in. There was little hope. How could there truly be any at all? And it was all his fault. All his fault.

He didn't notice Delia swoop Pikachu into her arms and step silently out, closing the door behind them.

He pulled a chair from the corner up beside the bed and sat in miserable silence for what seemed like hours, the only sounds being the harsh pings of the machinery.

"Misty," he croaked after what could have been a decade in his mind, "Please. Don't leave me. I don't know why you... Why you gave up out there. I really don't. But giving up... That's... It's not the Misty I know." he paused. "It's not the Misty I... I love."

Choking back tears, he placed a tender kiss on her forehead.

And, to his utter shock, she moved. Slowly her eyelids parted to reveal her emerald eyes looking back at him.

"Misty?" he gasped. "You're awake!"

"Ash?" she whispered, her voice slurred.

"Misty." He took her cold hand in his and managed a weak smile. "You're alive."

Misty took a deep breath and tucked her fiery red hair behind her ear. The February air was chilly, and the tree in the Ketchums' backyard did little to block the gentle snowfall, but it was nothing compared to the incident of a month ago. And besides, now she had her boyfriend's strong arms warming her up.

"I can't believe it's already been a month, huh Mist?" he asked, pulling her closer. "You know, I still feel stupid."

"Don't. You should, but don't." she insisted.

"Why?" he questioned.

"Because if that hadn't happened, we wouldn't have happened." she reminded him with a giggle. "And I like us just fine."

"Good, because I'm not letting you go." he chuckled, wrapping his arms even tighter around her.

"Who knew you'd be such a romantic?" she sighed dreamily.

"Nobody, I think. But somehow you figured it out, I guess."

"Not really." she admitted.

"Whatever. What matters is now, right?" he asked. "And I think now is just about perfect."

"Perfect." she echoed with a smile. "Just try not to freeze me again, okay?"

"Misty." he groaned, voice full of guilt.

"Just kidding." There was a moment of silence. "I love you, Ash." she whispered, snuggling closer to him.

"I love you too, Mist." He planted a kiss on the top of her head.

From the back porch Delia and Pikachu enjoyed the sweet scene.

"Pikapi. Pipikachu. Pi!" the electric mouse trilled, attempting to shape his tiny fingers into a heart.

"We've been waiting long enough, haven't we, Pikachu?" the woman asked the joyful Pokémon. He nodded happily. "I'm glad it finally worked out."

Human and Pokémon shared a knowing smile as they watched the couple's heads come together in a kiss.

So yeah. The ending kinda sucked, but whatever. I like it for the most part.

Review please! You know I love it if you review, and there's a nice plate of hot chocolate and cookies over there behind the review button...