"Your parents delivered more medicine than usual" Wyatt took out a bunch of pill bottles from the box Articuno delivered a few days prior. Crystal stared at them while her blood pressure was being taken. Her eyes stared directly at the new, different five containers each being placed on the table next to her throne "This will probably last us a few months."

"Did you convince them to send you this much so you wouldn't have to talk to them again until we run out?" She asked. He put everything back in the box after checking them and walked away to store them away in the closet filled with other medical supplies.

Of course, he wouldn't answer that. He's always like this when it comes to them. The reasoning behind their little drama is too much to think about.

"Milady?" Brenda walked over with a magazine in hand "I'm sorry to bother you, but I figured that you'd like..." she looked down shyly "I mean... when I went home, I thought of you and figured you'd like one of my friend's magazines!" Crystal took off the arm strap once it finished pumping and took the magazine in awe

"You got this for me?" Brenda bowed

"It was my pleasure, milady. I saw how much fascination you had towards the region, so I figured this be perfect for you" Crystal flipped through many pages at a time before holding it against her chest and stood up to face her directly "m-milady?"

"Thank you, for this..." the maid's cheeks turned red when seeing her pouting face "I appreciate you thinking about me even on your time off. If it's not too much trouble, please don't tell anyone about our discussion about anything. That goes for that friend of yours as well! I don't want Wyatt finding out."

"Find about what, if I may ask? Is something bothering you?" She shook her head "I understand. I will inform her to keep this a secret. You have my word" Crystal sighed and smiled a little, shocking her maid

"Thank you... if you'll excuse-" the front doors suddenly burst open, letting in the snow storm. Crystal gasped and squealed, taking cover by hugging the closest person in front of her.

"Quickly! Close the door!" Brenda shouted, holding Crystal close. The maids around huddled up to help close the door with raging cold winds keeping it from closing.

A short figure could be seen behind the white winds, facing the castle a few feet away, staring directly at Crystal. Crystal removed herself from Brenda's hold to stare at it before the doors were finally shut.

"Thank goodness" Brenda sighed.

"Did you see that? Outside... was someone there?" Everyone looked at each other

"I didn't see anything" Brenda said. Wyatt's Litwick was in the room, staring directly at the door.

"You saw it?" She asked. Litwick nodded with a smile. Wyatt walked back in, staring at the snow the maids were cleaning up.

"What happened?"

"The door suddenly opened on its own" Crystal explained. He sighed and crossed his arms.

"Must have been that Witch of the Forest" she made a face, trying to find a jokingly sound in his serious voice.

"Witch of the forest? You mean that bedtime story everyone talks about? The one where it teaches kids to not wander off without their parents?"

"Oh! I heard that story!" A maid said

"Me too!"

"Such a scary, yet sad story..." Crystal looked at the girls, then turned to Wyatt holding his hand out for Litwick to take and shake happily like something exciting happened

"Come on. You expect me to believe about the lady who traveled in the snow storm and died? That her soul came back to gather lost travelers to freeze their bodies and keep them as trophies?" Wyatt chuckled a little

"Well, you do see how excited Litwick and Chandelure are, don't you?" she looked at how happy Litwick was and looked up to see Chandelure floating around in place, staring at the windows framing the top of the large door "Don't take my word for it."

"Why?"

"Ghost-types are mysterious creatures we have yet to understand... they sense the dead and love it" Crystal bit her lips nervously "anyway, I'm sure it's nothing. It comes only around the serious and natural snow storms anyways. We don't have too many of those"

"Natural? You mean Articuno can't control those?"

"Yes. I mean... It's not like you have to worry about it" she glanced away and sat back down. He questioned her silence, but brushed it off, picking up a clipboard from the table.

"There's another delivery. Might want to go up to your room and keep an eye on your window" she nodded, watching him walk away while holding his chin like he was thinking. Brenda sighed in relief, holding her heart.

"Imagine if he was serious... I can't imagine a ghost haunting that forest" Crystal looked at her confused

"I know... how scary, but funny" a maid giggled.

"What are you talking about?" Crystal asked

"You didn't really believe in that story, do you? Milady?" Crystal stood up, taking Litwick with her and walked away

"I'll be going up to my room... thank you for the magazine" Brenda smiled and bowed as Crystal walked back to her room. The windows of the hallways revealed a massive snowstorm that prevents her from seeing anything but white. Litwick floated to the glass, shouting in excitement.

"What is it?" Crystal went over to spot the same figure she saw before, standing in the same area from where she can see the entrance of the castle. She wasn't seeing things... What is that thing? What Wyatt said... he can't be possibly telling the truth. That old bedtime story of the lady dying in the snow storm... no way.

"I-I'm sure it's nothing" she gulped nervously as hurried to her room, seeing Articuno's body flying close to her window "oh! Articuno!" She opened the windows to let it inside with a package "sorry about that! I didn't think the delivery would come this early" she closed the windows, breathing heavily from using her weak muscles to close the windows the wind was making impossible to close.

Finally succeeding, she looked over to look at her legendary on the floor, staring down at a Delibird laying on the ground with a bag.

"A Delibird?" She hasn't seen a Delibird in months. She sat on the floor to reach its height. Trying to calm its breathing, it got up to make sure it's bag was okay "any deliveries?" barely noticing her so close, it flinched and backed away from her in a panic, holding its bag close "what are you hiding from me?" She crawled over "I haven't seen you guys in months... why is that?" Articuno yanked its bag, causing it to trip, and handed it to its master to take a peak

"Bird! Deli!" Delibird panicked, being held back by Glaceon and Articuno's wing. Crystal looked inside to see letters sent from universities, companies, and more for Wyatt. She noticed that many of them had red markings with his handwriting on it, spelling 'NO' across the envelope.

"Wait a minute..." she checked the date on all of them "he denied every one of these..." she found one that wasn't touched and opened it.

Thoroughly reading it, she gently dropped the letter and looked down "oh... I see" she smiled "so... he denied all these great opportunities because of me, I'm assuming" she looked at the sad look on Delibird's face "I'm the one keeping him here. Because of me being a bother to him, he can't go and be someone much greater than he is now" she picked up the letter and gave it back to the little bird before walking to the window "Wyatt Hiyori is very particular in his life choices, to keep me healthy. It's not like it's not obvious... He's a genius, and everyone wants a hold of him. I know what he's capable of, and yet he chooses to be with me. He knows how badly I wanted to leave that hospital" she put her hand on the glass "he did everything for me, and I'm repaying him by leaving?" She looked back at her Pokémon frowning at her "this will be good for the both of us. Once he sees that I'm capable of taking care of myself, he doesn't have to be with me all the time!" She sighed and petted Delibird's head "I need time... to prove it to him. Once the next envelope arrives, I'll personally give it to him"

"Lit..?" Her entire body froze. She looked over at Litwick staring at her, forgetting it was in the room.

"L-Litwick... did you hear all that?" It frowned "please, don't let Wyatt find out!" It floated over to her closet, leading her over. Confused, she walked to a corner of the closet she doesn't look at due to all her dresses blocking the floor, moved them to the side where the ghost-type was pointing, and saw a pile of her medicine and other medical things that could be found in the medicine closet downstairs, right on the corner

"What is all this?" All her different type of medicine was here, even a wristlet blood pressure machine. "I didn't even know we had this... it looks new" she hid everything under the dresses and looked back at Litwick cheering like it accomplished something. "you knew what I wanted..." it nodded "Litwick..." she gave a jolly yet small smile, managing to make it freeze in shock. "thanks..." sighing, she scurried back to her room to see Delibird staring out the window.

"Once the storm settles, we can go." she looked at Articuno. "I'm sure you can carry me to the bridge, right?" it nodded, watching her put her hands together and looked around her room "looks like everything is already according to plan" she picked up her magazine "I already know the first place I want to visit" she looked at a picture of Hana village's famous views, admiring everything "nothing is going to keep me away... this isn't for my own sake now, it's for Wyatt as well"

Wyatt handed Crystal's last pill for tonight. She watched him staring the entire time she drank her water and put it down.

"Is that necessary?" He snorted and took the pills away

"Of course it is. I have to make sure you take it all."

"You're too much. Of course I'll take it all! I don't want to go back to that hospital or have another episode!"

"Yeah, I know" he walked to the door, finding a Delibird sitting on the playground on the ceiling "why is there a Delibird here?" He searched for a bag but was empty handed

"It flew in with Articuno. It probably got caught up in the storm... were you expecting any deliveries?" She eyed him to see a sign of something "do Delibirds usually come here?"

"Not all the time. They usually come to deliver junk mail. Nothing we need. I already take care of it, but find it strange how it doesn't have anything today."

"Maybe it got lost."

"Good riddance" he crossed his arms and looked at her in bed eyeing him continuously "are you comfortable, milady?"

"Shut up and leave my room" he bowed.

"As you wish" she threw her pillow at him just as he closed the door. Geez... why does he have to act like that all the time? In a few hours, she won't have to hear it for a little while

The storm outside calmed only by a bit in the middle of the night. It was a storm that wasn't caused by Articuno wanting to make a barrier to hide the castle. It was natural and wasn't going down that easily.

"I don't want to wait any longer," Crystal said, facing the window with her cloak on, scarf, and a long gray dress with fur inside, reaching to her ankles. Glaceon purposely untied her boot laces to prevent her from leaving

"How did you- Glaceon, stop" she tied them again and pet its head "I have to do this. You stay here with Umbreon and make sure Wyatt doesn't find out" she took the bag with her things Castform was holding up with its mouth "I should be back in a few days. Articuno should help navigate me back home, so there's nothing to worry about. I have everything with me."

"Glaceon!" It cried

"I'll be fine..." she took out Castform's Pokéball to return it "I'll bring Castform and Dewgong with me, so the rest of you hang tight" she opened the window, letting in the cold wind. She covered her mouth with her scarf and climbed on the seat of the window "close the door once I jump out!" She pointed at Articuno and Delibird to fly out. Once they left, she jumped off and got caught by her legendary's claws to escort her to the bridge, but due to the intensity of the wind, ended up dropping her into the snow. At least it was a good few feet that stuck her landing...

Taking a step forward was difficult, but her weak little body pushed itself to push past the winds and carry on with her soon to be journey. The distance from the castle to the closest town, which calls itself Frost Town, wasn't too far. It'll take a few 10 minutes to walk, but with her struggle to even move, it'll probably take longer...

No matter how hard it was, she continued forward until she felt someone staring at her. She froze and looked to the side, behind the trees at a short figure with glowing eyes looking her way. It was the same figure she saw earlier today.

"W-who are you..?" She stuttered. She couldn't remember the last time she's been out the castle in the cold. This was no ordinary storm. The snow felt colder than the storms Articuno makes

The figure didn't move from its spot, nor said a thing "A-Are you the witch of the forest..?" It disappeared in the raging wind. Feeling the eyes move from another direction, she turned to the other side to see it again "what do you want?" She stood her ground, keeping her cloak as close to her body as possible "if you're thinking of taking away my freedom, you're mistaken! I will not go back until I prove that I can be fine on my own!"

"Your voice is strong, yet you are so little..." a woman's voice came from the opposite side. When turning, something took her hand from the other side where the figure was. She flinched, making eye contact with a strange colored Froslass holding her hand.

"You seem strong, but you're very delicate in the inside, like a snowflake. You can break at any moment..." the woman's voice spoke again from an unknown direction, and later never came back.

Crystal looked down at the Froslass holding her hand, pulling her to lead her to the exit of the forest. Confused about the entire thing, she knew she didn't have time to think. She had to get out the storm before she falls.

The strong wind was becoming less and less intense the further they walked. Next thing she knew, she could see the storm wall from the bridge she was standing on. She's out... "I did it..." she gasped and looked at the Froslass merely standing there, not looking at anything in particular. She looked at Articuno circling her before heading back to the forest. Nodding, she squats down to face Froslass peaking at her.

"Thank you for bringing me here..." it closed its eyes. A Froslass... isn't it known for the same story she heard about the witch of the forest? "Why did you help me?" It stared at her for a moment longer before holding both her hands

"Come back safely, and turn from a delicate snowflake to a strong, beautiful shining gem" the voice behind it came back. Crystal squeezed on Froslass's hands while facing the direction of the forest and turned her back

"I'm not sure what's going on, but I'm guessing you're going to help me travel?" Froslass nodded "in that case" she looked back at her castle she could barely see "Be patient with me... until then, I hope Wyatt won't hate me" she released a depressing sigh, hating to worry someone who went through so much just to care for her "this will be good for the both of us" Froslass nodded and held its arms out, expecting to catch Crystal falling as soon as she looked away from her prison

(update: 4-25-18... Finally this story its taking its turn towards the beginning. Finally out her prison, I wonder what will happen now)