[A/N: So, look who's back on the feels train. It's very rushed towards the end, sorry. I only had time to write it in these two days. Listening to the soundtrack An Unwavering Heart in the media is recommended. The lyrics are from "Waiting For You", an English Vocaloid song by apol. With that said, enjoy! :)]

(i'm just reuploading my old one-shots here C:::)

• • •

Let me hold your hand for one last time 

Don't worry, I'll be just fine

•

"Do you think it's OK to be up here?"

The small girl seems to sink further into her jacket, and the heated flush on her cheeks stand out against the pale, nearly snowlike shade of her freezing skin.

Her features are painfully sharp to look at, thin and defiant under the stark winter light that provides her with only the slightest touch of comfort. The girl's black hair has been woven into two stiff braids that float out awkwardly behind her, a hairstyle she's come to hate and despise with every bit of her childlike mind.

The chubby Snorunt in her arms snaps to attention at her trainer's voice, her pale, triangular cloak more than enough to keep herself warm.

The small Pokemon makes a soft coo, eyes gentle and concerned, before burrowing back into the nest she has made in her trainer's arms.

"You're right," the young girl sighs, pretending that she's understood the creature's answer. "I knew it'd be tough out here. All I have to do is stay out for one night, right?"

The Snorunt stares at her once more, giving her a burst of silent support.

Smiling slightly from the encouragement, her grasp tightens on her backpack, and she trudges on, battling waves and sheets of cold gales and storming pellets of hard, numbing ice.

"It's for you, after all."

• • •

"How long are you going to insist on keeping that Snorunt of yours? She's just a weak creature that will do you no good! Just leave the pathetic Pokemon in the mountains where you found her, for goodness' sake! You've only just found her!"

"She's not weak! Snorunt is my best friend, and we will become and unbeatable ice-type duo! Don't you want me to succeed as Snowpoint's future Gym Leader?"

"Yes, we do want you to become a Gym Leader, but you'll never get anywhere with that Pokemon! We have so many talented, veteran breeders---"

"I don't want to succeed without this Snorunt! If you won't let me keep her, you can forget about me becoming a Gym Leader!"

"For Arceus' sake, stop being so stubb---"

"Well, I'll just prove that me and Snorunt can do it! I'll prove she's strong! You know the "Whispering Mountains" you always told me not to go into alone? The one Snorunt came from? I'll stay there for one whole night. One. Whole. Night. If I can, you'll let me catch her."

"That's just plain reckless. No."

"You can't stop me."

• • •

The wind howls, piling up snow in drifts, blinding the setting sky with ice-white dust. She walks bent over against the cold, protecting her stinging, teary eyes with her skinny arms.

The blizzard has turned her surroundings into a swirling storm of screeching silver, flakes pelting against frozen cheeks, clinging to eyelashes and hair, numbing her exposed skin, causing pain in fingertips and toes, creating an exhausting chore to break a trail through accumulative snow drifts. Shivering, her teeth begins to chatter and she hugs herself to stay warm.

The young girl, barely eight, is only just able to plough her exhausted body through the thick sheets of stark white that coat the ground, her short legs growing heavier and devoid of the enthusiasm she'd had when she'd ventured into the mountains.

"Are you OK, Snorunt?" The girl's voice is worried as she inspects her Pokemon. The small creature seems to have adjusted just fine to the cold, but she's drowsy with sleepiness.

The Pokemon's eyes flicker open as she shifts her body upwards. "Runt, Snorunt."

"This was a really bad idea, huh?" She smiles, apologetic. "I'm really sorry."

The Snorunt's wide teeth arrange into something that can be almost be perceived as a smile, before hopping out of her arms and rapidly moving her stubby legs in an effort to keep up with her friend.

The small girl's heart flutters, the icy cold around them no longer mattering as raw love thaws the frozen chains around her heart. "Yeah. We'll do this."

Nodding, the Snorunt's small eyes glint in admirable determination.

• • •

The girl's heart skips a beat as the fuzzy outline of a small structure in the near distance, blurred and nearly obscured by the raging snowstorm.

Ignoring the small, rock-hard pellets pelting against her already-numb skin, she presses on, the Snorunt skipping after her, perfectly comfortable in her old home.

"Looks like we may be able to survive a night here, Snorunt," she sighs in utter relief.

Exhaustion is an understatement. Weary with the burden of long-closed eyes, she could have easily pulled off being a walking zombie, dead on the inside but subconsciously awake.

Picking up her pace, she ignored the blizzard that rages in the cold winter, her mind only set on what seems to be a sort of shelter in the near distance.

She nearly collapses out of ecstasy when she sees the small wooden cabin only metres away from her, wooden panels dilapidated and chipped, but still sturdy. It's tiny, perhaps only having just enough space for the two of them, but in her mind, it's ascended to a place of paradise.

The chalky paint falls in fragments, leaving the splintered door nothing but a bare, wooden board. It whines on its amber hinges as her palm presses gingerly against its moist frame. The undefinable source of darkness drapes over the walls like a tapestry as she takes a wary step over the rotting oak floors.

Her hands fumble for a light switch, and she allows herself to crumple to the floor as soon as a dim, flickering lustre spreads through the room.

The shelter isn't much--- just a container-like structure with nothing more than a few cans of Pokemon food that looks like they're expiring soon. Still, it's enough for her, and she stretches her hand towards a dingy window, gazing at the night sky.

She's utterly miserable--- she hasn't eaten or drunk anything today, and she's done nothing but hours of ploughing through the harsh snow.

Still, as she curls up on the hard floor to sleep, she can't help but smile at the sight of her snoring Snorunt.

• • •

As long as you are here 

Everything will be alright

•

"This is a stupid idea, Candice. It's dangerous."

"Then let me keep the Snorunt."

"How many times must I tell you this? It's just a Snorunt. We can have one bred for you if---"

"I'm leaving."

"Candice, this is crazy. You'll die if you come across the temple of---"

• • •

She wakes up to a grating, screeching sound, and her face is freezing because her Snorunt has attacked her with a weak--- albeit effective--- Powder Snow.

Groaning, she bolts upright, her surroundings still hazy, shrouded in a muted veil of sleepiness. Her Snorunt is tugging at one of her socks, urging her to hurry, but instead, she looks around in confusion, hearing the squall nearly smash her eardrums once again.

She yanks the door's dilapidated knob, startling when it snaps as easily as a twig, limply falling onto the hollow wooden ground.

Disgruntled, tired and annoyed, she bangs and shoves against the door, spikes of pain coursing through her small, feeble frame.

She loses her balance as the large wooden board suddenly bursts open, tumbling out of the cabin and into the freezing cold.

However, it's not the cold that frightens her--- it's the low, territorial growl of an enraged predator that causes her to stumble back a few paces.

As she stares at the creature in front of her, she's momentarily stunned by its sheer, absolute beauty.

A coat of sleek, rich cyan cloaks the Pokemon's slim body, four legs crouched and ready to pounce at any moment, white splashes spilling like snow onto the cerulean canvas in the shape of perfectly formed diamonds. Lush aubergine flowing out like an aurora borealis forms its mane, and its hexagonal blue crest seems to be made out of the finest crystal.

The only thing that ruins this beautiful image is the creature's flaming, horridly furious stare, carving maliciously aimed holes into her rapidly beating heart.

She remembers her mother's words--- "The temple of---" but she'd left before her mother could finish her sentence.

Her mouth goes dry, and only the bitter, metallic aftertaste of blood lingers, as she realises where exactly she's slept.

"I wasn't trying to hurt or disrespect you," Candice stammers out. "I--- I just wanted a place a sleep---"

The proud Suicune doesn't listen one bit. It pounces, snarling, revealing small pointed canines that look dangerously sharp.

Suicune is unpredictable like water. Sometimes, it's calm and gentle, like the smooth, tranquil surface of shimmering crystalline lakes. At other points, it can be truly terrifying, ruby eyes inflicting fear into every being, just like the rough, choppy waves at sea that sink ships and silently finish the lives of innocent sailors.

She screams in pain, a heartrending squeal that only a young child is capable of making.

Her muscles are frozen in place; however, they're filled with such a tingling pressure that she wants to run until her body is empty--- put as much distance between myself and the beast as possible.

But all she sees right now are loose forms with colour and she needs the world to come back into view before she can run. She knows it's adrenaline. Perhaps fleeing is the dumbest move, she wouldn't know--- her brain is too fried to analyse the options.

She's barely able to gulp down a strangled breath before a glacial beam that gleams with the colours of a beautiful aurora shoots towards her like an icy spear, sending her tumbling away from the monster that wants nothing more than to kill her.

She crashes into the crumbling wall of the cabin--- no, temple--- and the fragile, sacred building caves in, thin structure splintering and cracking before collapsing.

She shudders--- both in pain and relief--- and her first instinct is to grab hold of the trembling Snorunt that sits in the middle of the ruined debris. Somewhere outside, the enraged Legendary roars, the raw power of its voice shaking the area.

Bruises mar her creamy skin, but it's the wound in her chest that worries her the most.

Searing fiery bursts pulsates around the wound, six inches from her wildly palpitating heart, intensifying with each dragging step, jarring and brutal. With each step the pain amplifies, the bloody muscle quivering, her consciousness ebbing. Black mists swirled at the edges of her mind drawing her to the brim of sweet oblivion.

With quivering arms, she sweeps her Pokemon into her hold, and she clings on to it, tears running down her blood-streaked face.

"Mama was right," she whispers, knowing that her hideout is temporary--- that the Suicune will soon make it past the ruins of its cherished temple. "This was a stupid idea."

"Runt---"

The Pokemon is interrupted as a screech causes their ears to ring, the Suicune smashing through the detritus and bolting towards the duo.

The arctic vortex of a Sheer Cold forms in its mouth--- a sphere with a core so black that it seems to snuff out any spark of light and hope. The soft, slippery snowdrops solidify into a storm of icy hail, and they orbit the huge shaft of deadly, compressed energy that glints a pale azure.

Candice barely has time to move, and she knows that the end is near. After all, there is no hope of escaping the North Wind itself.

The howling blizzard removes the illusion of her eyes. With sight she is not alone, she is with her Snorunt, full of life and personality to keep her mind anchored in time and space. But as the white flakes whirl around Candice in an angry vortex, she is as alone as she would be in the bleakness of space and cold, so cold.

She reaches out with a gloved hand to guide her way, but it is swallowed before it has gone even a few inches.

She hears her Pokemon's scream--- one brittle and agonised, but a sound that conveys a clear message for her to run.

The thick storm dies down just a little--- not enough for the Legendary beast to catch sight of her, but her heart sees to slide to a halt as she observes the horrifying scene in front of her, realising just who has taken the full force of Suicune's wrath.

Her Snorunt is not invincible--- there are temperatures that even the small Pokemon are unable to take. Where her sunny cloak and black, circular body once was stands a rigid, glassy form. The Pokemon that has once moved so freely in the failing light of dusk is now trapped in icy prison, beautiful and timeless but as solid as the frozen ground under boot.

Instinctively, she reaches out her ungloved hand to touch her face, to wake her. Upon contact she recoils her fingers as quickly as a child from a hot stove. But instead of heat is the coldness that shocks her, enough heat drained to turned her lips blue.

And with the horrifying revelation, a small pocket of hope has shined through--- the Suicune has not seen her yet, and if she starts now, she can maybe, just maybe escape and make it back home.

But if she does, she'll become nothing more than a heartless monster, someone who's left her best friend behind for her own, selfish needs to die.

Candice cries as if her brain is being shredded from the inside. Emotional pain flows out of her every pore; fresh waves of tears racking her body and streaming down in crystal rivulets. She stumbles to her feet; prepares to run, but not before looking to her friend's blank, unseeing eyes, once full of life but now cold and glassy.

Knowing that the small Pokemon is down there, somewhere, she lets out a broken wail as she takes to her feet, stumbling and falling through the icy, frostbitten mountains, the white-hot fire of pain tearing her body to shreds.

"I'll come for you," the small girl yells, praying that the Pokemon can hear her. "I promise I'll come."

Please just wait for me.

• • •

No matter how far you are 

You're always here in my heart 

I always feel like you're closer to me

•

The teenaged girl sits in her room, unusually solemn and free from the bubbly personality she displays as a Gym Leader.

Her Froslass looks at her, but she avoids the creature's calculating gaze. She's top-notch, bred straight from her family's private daycare, and everything she once wanted.

But she's not the Snorunt she befriended eight years ago, and it's the smallest detail that makes the biggest difference.

She still remembers the dawn, standing out in her memory like an icy, unwanted shard. She remembers collapsing into her mother's arms, sobbing for her Pokemon in incoherent gasps, remembers the waves of regret and guilt and hate she'd felt towards herself as she left the small creature defenceless.

She's tried to go back. She's tried to escape back to the mountains, to bring back the Snorunt, but her mother won't allow it. With a row of guards standing at the very entrance, all trained under the Champion herself, she stands no chance.

Every day, she wonders if her Snorunt is alright, and that very shard of memory stabs her in the heart--- a thousand times more painful than the Ice Beam attack that she'd received from Suicune.

"I'll come for you," she mutters under her breath. "I'll come."

• • •

I always wish to the stars 

Even if we're miles apart I'll be here waiting for you always

•

Suicune's rage has been quelled, and clear-minded judgement peeks through the frenzied cloud of insanity that had sprouted in its mind. It takes pity on the small Pokemon; decides that it is the human's fault and not her Pokemon, and melts the icy barrier around the creature's body.

The Snorunt has heard her trainer's cry. She sits at the edges of the fallen temple for hours each day, only leaving to find food. Her bed is a rough, spiky mess of splintered boards, and she's isolated, alone, and utterly miserable.

She eventually loses track of time after counting for the first three months.

The Pokemon likes to believe she's gone crazy--- playing hopeful visions and scenes in her mind over and over again. She's created over a dozen different versions, each with a happier ending than the last.

She waits in the cold, wondering and waiting for the day where she would forget about all this and waiting for the cold to numb the pain in her heart.

I'll wait for you.

• • •

"What're you doing here?"

The voice is strange, unfamiliar, and does not match with the girl she knows.

An unfamiliar human looks at the Snorunt curiously, face pleasant with a look of concern etched into her features.

"It must be awful living in a place like this." Her voice is soft and gentle, but she's not the girl whom the Pokemon wants to see.

Without waiting for a response, the Snorunt's swept into the teenager's arms. "I'm bringing you with me," she says, a sympathetic smile spreading across her face. "You don't have to suffer anymore."

The Snorunt struggles against the firm grasp, crying and screeching at her to let go, but the girl doesn't obey; doesn't understand.

She later learns that it'd been eight years and two months since their promise had been broken.

I wanted to wait.

She'd never felt the arms she wanted, and she never can.

• • •

"Candice?"

Her mother looks at her with a pointed glance. "You have another challenger."

"Got it," she replies, sliding off her bed and sticking her tongue out at her mother. "Candice will give the challenger a good battle, rest assured."

Her Froslass follows behind, icy gaze silently boring into her trainer's back.

"So!" The Gym Leader claps her hands together as the young teenager comes into sight, a bright smile on her face. "Let's see if you'll be a worthy match for Candice!"

• • •

(I lied, I'm sorry, I'm not really fine, I always cry every night, I miss you so much, I hope it's alright to say I love you)

The challenger is strong.

She's come well-prepared with three strong Fire Types, but they aren't as well-trained as Candice's icy charges.

As the teenager performs a well-timed Explosion in an act of desperation that defeats both her Macargo and her Abomasnow, she can't help but be impressed by the opposing Pokemon's bravery. They're both down to their last Pokemon, and it's clear that her opponent doesn't have faith in her last Pokemon.

Both of them open their Pokeballs at the same time, and the ghostly forms of two elegant Froslass appear on the snow-coated battlefield.

Candice takes a closer look, and stares at the Froslass, mouth wide open. Her brain formulates no thoughts other than to register that she is shocked. She closes his mouth, then looks at her feet before glancing back up to catch her eye.

"Y---You... S---Froslass..."

"Anything wrong?" The challenger is impatient, her foot striking out a rhythmic pattern on the icy floor.

"That used to be my Snorunt," Candice blurts out, unable to hold back the surprise.

"She wasn't caught when I found her," the girl counters.

"She's mine."

The teenager narrows her eyes, both in annoyance and in anger. "I hope all Gym Leaders aren't this bratty. Besides, even if Froslass used to be yours, you must have been a pretty horrible trainer to just abandon it in the Whispering Mountains."

The Ice-type Gym Leader opens her mouth, about to offer a comeback, but her clenched fists drops back to her side, defeated.

Her opponent's words are true. She has been a horrible trainer.

Instead, she stares at who used to be her best friend.

Froslass looked back with wide eyes, fingers jumping rhythmically, as if spasming. Her legs gently folds and she subsides slowly, ungainly as a marionette.

The Pokemon feels a burst of happiness pass through her like a warm ocean wave, washing away the emptiness of her day to leave her refreshed inside.

However, as that wave fades, she notices the Pokemon that accompanies her friend--- no, the Pokemon that's replaced her.

That is all she is to her trainer.

Replaceable.

Candice haunts her in ways she can never explain, never shake. She gave the child her heart for free, but she views it as worthless. No, it's priceless, and that's the difference in their views.

The smile on her face wavers, and her outstretched fingers dip.

She feels her trainer kneeling down and wrapping her in a tight embrace.

They aren't the arms she wants.

You never waited, Candice's mind whispers hoarsely, broken, utterly broken.

But they're the arms she needs.

...You never came.

• • •

[Word Count: 3484]

[A/N: Sooooo... hope it wasn't too sad. Well there's not really any death so :p I hope you enjoyed, and please vote, comment and leave some constructive criticism. *salutes* Nyx out~!]