Short, one shot…. Hope ya like it:)

(:)Bleeding Hearts(:)

I still can't believe the decision I made. It seems now that it was wrong, but no. It was the best for him, and I always do the best for my son. When he arrived to the hospital, his head was cut, and he had some broken ribs and bones. It turns out that he had leaped into the ocean -- into a storm -- from a small speedboat to save his Pokeballs.

A humongous wave came over his head, bashing his head and chest into the side of a cliff. Struggling, he tried to surface. He grabbed his Pokeballs, and gave them to Misty. He realized that one ball was missing. He swam downwards, got the ball, tossed it out of the sea, and was swept back under. He surfaced, took in a ton of air, and sank back under. He looked around frantically, searching for anymore. When he realized that they were all safe on the speedboat, Ash surfaced.

The speedboat wasn't there. He had drifted away from the boat. His mind, his lungs, everything seemed to be filled with water. He struggled to stay up, but he was rapidly growing tired. Slowly, he fainted, and sank under the water.

I received the news that he was at Pokemon Memorial Hospital in Pallet the day of the accident. I ran to the hospital, just to be stopped by Millie. She was crying.

"Delia....I'm sorry, there's nothing more we can do. Its all up to him now." I was breathing hard. He was in critical condition.

"Can I...Can we see him?" I asked, as Pikachu appeared. It curled around my legs, moaning and begging to see Ash.

"Yes. But, you can only look through the window." Mille lead us to the IC Unit. She nodded inside.

The light was turned off. Ash was lying on a white bed. Bandages were wrapped around his head, his chest, and his arms. A tube with a deep red liquid was running into his arm. Many other tubes and things were going into him. He had an air mask over his mouth and nose. A heart, pulse and lung monitor was softly beeping over his bed. My eyes were focused on the EKG. It was slowly beeping, with the bumps appearing at five or six intervals. That's terribly slow for someone's heart. His eyes were closed.

"He's unconscious still," Millie explained. "If he slips into a coma, we're gonna have to work fast to wake him...Or we'll lose him." Pikachu tapped the glass with it's paws.

"Pikapi," it moaned. Ash didn't stir.

"Oh, Ash...." I whispered. "Come back to me..." Then, magically, as if Ash could hear me, his head turned a teeny tiny bit towards the window. His heart sped up the least fraction of a bit. I smiled. I knew he could be alright….

My son…. My tenshima….

That night, I got a worried phone call from the hospital.

"Delia, come now! Ash just slipped into a coma!" I rushed over there faster then you could say "Wow". I let no time, no space come between me and my son.

I wanted to run in there and hug him or something, but I couldn't. All I could do was sit outside and wait. I was watching a computer with different heart monitors for people around the area. I watched Ash's with worried eyes. My heart seemed to be beating faster and faster with every passing second, for with every second came another second he could die. Suddenly, the line went straight. A shrill beeeeeeeee could be heard. He was flat-lining. I didn't react until it hit me…. He was… flat-lining…. Oh….

"Ash!" I cried, jumping up. I could hear shouted voices form inside the operating room.

"Come on, get it higher! I need more! Come on, we're losing this kid!" I sat down again. My legs felt like jelly. I was so afraid.... There were so many things that had gone wrong in my life…. And I couldn't let the only good thing in my life die…

I watched as a doctor ran out of the room. He came running back, pushing something on a cart. I fearfully watched the heart monitor. I watched the red line stay on the screen. It seemed to mock me, and I stared harder and harder, until I couldn't focus on it any longer, and my tears were turning the red line into a red fuzz. On the screen, it said EKG 14B. Suddenly, the screen turned off. The other heart monitors were still on, but not his. Not room 14B. Ash's room.

Mille came out of the room. I was still staring at the screen. I couldn't tear my gaze from it's black exterior, from the little lines that could decide his future.

"Delia?" I jumped.

"M-Millie!" Millie looked at me. Her eyes seemed sad and scared.

"Ash is now on life support," she whispered. I gasped. I could feel my legs give way, and I fell onto the seat once more, staring at her. I felt like a lifeless, empty shell, with no feeling or thought or… Thankfully…. No emotion….

"Ash lost a lot of blood form the accident, and a lot during the operation. He lost a lot of valuable blood cells and brain cells, too. Many or his ribs are cracked; a few are broken. His right arm is broken, and both his knees are fractured. His left lower leg is also broken. His skull is fractured, too. And his spine is a little off center. If he survives, he'll be out of Pokemon training for a year and a half to two years.........to life." I nodded. This means he'll live… Right?

All night I sat out there. I think I got a little sleep. I was much too worried about Ash…. I kept having these nightmares that he'd end up in hell and suffer at the hands of the Devil…. The next morning, Ash was in critical condition all day. I desperately wanted to see him, yet, at the same time, I was scared to face him. I thought that if I faced him, I would be telling myself that he would truly lose his life. As night fell, the small piece of hope I'd had the night before had dwindled to a faint spark in my soul, one that could easily be vanquished. That night, Pikachu and I waited for Millie's report.

"Delia," she whispered, "There is a decision we must make. We need the life support for another patient who is not in as a critical condition as Ash. She needs it more. We'll have to turn off the life support, and Ash will die. Or, he can keep it, and suffer in pain for his life, and that little girl will die." I looked up at her. Did she think I was going to care about some girl?

"What about the girl?"

"She was hit by a speeding car. She's only seven, Delia. Her parents told me that she was always saying how she wants to be a Pokemon trainer.... Just like Ash." I stared at her, temporarily forgetting my pain.

"What? She, she knows him?"

"Do you know little Molly Hale?" My head snapped up.

"Yes, yes I do."

"She has a much better chance of surviving then Ash does." She took out a clipboard with some papers attached to it.

"All you have to do is sign this." She handed it to me. "Delia, think about it. Ash is suffering so intensely right now, and if we don't get him off the life support, he won't be able to be a Pokemon trainer anymore. He won't be able to do anything anymore. He's better off dying, really. And besides, Molly will live, and I have a feeling that that's what Ash would want."

"Why does she need life support?"

"Who?"

"Molly."

"Her heart isn't pumping fast enough. The life support will get it to pump quicker, and then her wounds can start healing." I stood. I knew what Ash would want me to do. But I'm not Ash; I'm me, his mother, someone who gave him life… So he could live it for himself. I looked at those sheets. Just one signature… and his life would end. Just like that. I was battling inside myself, about what would be better; letting Molly live, and letting Ash die, or letting Ash live, and Molly die.

I couldn't make a decision like this in one instant… I need more then just a few minutes….

"Well?" Millie asked, pulling the clipboard back towards her. I had just sat, staring at those papers. I felt as though I was signing my entire life, my existence, away. It felt like an eternity, sitting there, numb, wondering what I should do…

"Do you….. want me to let you think about it….?" She asked in a timid voice. I hadn't noticed that I had been sitting there for ten minutes without a word.

"No," I said suddenly, surprising myself. In my mind, I was screaming.

You idiot! Bakane! What are you doing? You're letting your son die! He has his whole life ahead of him!

So does Molly, I thought. I loved them both, but…. My mind slowly began to drift towards singing it. When Millie first gave me this chance, I thought, Is she NUTS? Of COURSE I'm not gonna sign! But now…. And, Ash was in a vegetative state… So many injuries…. So many pains…. So many things he would never be able to do…. And he might not live anway…. The next thing I knew, my name was written on the papers.

Delia Ketchum

I gulped. I followed Millie to Ash's room. He looked like he did in the IC unit, only with a big machine attached. I had told Misty and Brock about his condition, and I promised I would tell them again after my visit. You couldn't come into the emergency care area of the hospital unless you were 21 or older. Brock was 20, Misty 14. Both weren't old enough to come in.

But I was.

I kneeled down next to his bed. Millie unattached everything from him. Then, with a shuddering breath, turned off the machine. The last noises of the machine died away, Ash's spirit with it. He wasn't breathing. Millie felt his wrist. No pulse. There was no way he could be alive now.

"Ash....." I moaned, and started to cry. "Ash.....Please come back....." I lay my head down on the bed, my shoulders heaving. I felt as though I had just about killed my son, just signed his death certificate, let him die. I was beating myself up inside; why did I do that? Why? Why? Why….

Many people think that his death wasn't a death after all; in fact, according to Tracey, in many ancient religions, if people die when they're young, that means that the Gods want them early for a reason, a very noble reason. It was an honor. A great one.

And what Ash did for Molly was the best reason of all.

The day of his funeral, everyone seemed sad. I knew I was. I was almost ready to burst into tears, to just let myself die right there…. I always thought that I would die before my son… But when I saw little Molly, and I remembered what Ash did for her, what I allowed for him to do, I smiled. I knew that Ash was probably watching us in Heaven, smiling down on us at the sight of Molly being alive.

Remarkably, when Molly approached the casket, the clouds disappeared, and the sun shone down on her. My cheeks were warmed in the peaceful light, and I let myself go, tears sliding down my face, slow, painful tears….