Hey, so this has been bothering me for awhile. I don't ship Serena with Ash, but I do understand why he is shipped with all of the girls, so this piece is kind of a representation of that. It's short, but I hope it packs a punch.

Disclaimer: I don't own pokemon...:(

Serena knows that she is not the first.

It's not that she over thinks it a lot, or that it keeps her up at night - because honestly it doesn't - it's just that, it hurts sometimes to think that one day she'll be like them (those boys and girls who fit perfectly in the space she took up) forgotten. Maybe she's being a bit over dramatic, because he certainly hasn't erased them from his mind, Ash isn't like that, but Serena is only human, and she worries. The thought of Ash forgetting her is worse than anything she could ever imagine. It's worse than her mom reprimanding her, worse than making a fool of herself on stage, and it's even worse than the chilling sensation of a ghost right behind her, because losing Ash would be...be...well it would be like dying.

Ash: the boy with the smile, the one who wrapped that handkerchief around her knee so damn carefully she wanted to cry, who taught her that giving up was never an option, and that she could do anything she dreamed of if she put her mind to it. He's the boy she lo- would do anything for, even if that meant giving up her own dream. Serena would sacrifice her heart, her soul, and her life for that boy; he'd just have to ask.

So excuse her for being a teensy bit scared, but Ash is special to her. Kalos may be her home, but if Ash were to leave the region she would...well, she would...she'd give it up! because Ash is her home too…right?

Right?

Bonnie tells her things, sometimes, about the other girls. She's a sneak, after all, and that means that the little girl overhears conversations that Ash has with his other companions, during those late nights tucked away in Pokemon Centers. They're beautiful, Bonnie tells her, all of them.

Serena hates it.

And now, she's sure she must be cursed, because she's taken to dreaming about them. Last night was one of the worst. The girl (it didn't matter who, because to Serena they're all the same) had hovered over her body like some kind of phantom. A smile was glued to the girl's lips, and it kept changing, as if trying to fit a face that wasn't its own. "You're Serena," the girl had said, tilting her head to the side, and waiting. Serena had nodded mutely. "That's nice." The girl's voice was layered with so many different pitches, that Serena could barely make out what she was saying. "You care about him, don't you?"

"Y-yes," Serena stuttered. "I do, I care about him very much! I-"

"We do too."

The girl began to walk away from her then, and Serena tried to go after her, but her legs had turned to jelly, and her mouth filled with cotton, and no matter how hard she struggled, she wasn't able to fight it. The girl's figure flashed as she walked away, changing from different heights, and different skin colors, until blurring together in a kind of mist. Then, to Serena's horror, Ash appeared. He took the girl's hand, and with his other smoothed down the girl's orange - brown -blue - purple hair, and began to tilt his head down ever so carefully. As he did, the image blurred, and wavered, until everything went black and Serena woke up choking.

All throughout breakfast Serena had clenched her hands into fists as hard as she could, until red crescent moons appeared on her skin.

And sometimes, Serena feels as though she's losing this fight. It's not like she can control her feelings for the raven haired boy, and even if she wanted to, she could never...she could never...just stop. Ash is just, he's just...the only one she's ever -

Ash was the one who told her to never give up, right? So she won't; she'll never stop fighting.

Across the regions, four girls say the same thing.