Wyatt bowed to everyone leaving and faced the Otashis behind him after the Kimanas left "I'm sorry I wasn't good enough to keep her healthy. I tried my best." He mumbled a little.

"And that's all that matters..." Mom frowned.

"You did the best you could..." Samantha sobbed.

"No one is blaming you" Leah said.

"It's that guy's fault! What was his name again? Agh! I battled him not too long ago too!" Jade glared.

"No, please don't blame him. This was Crystal's choice, not his" Elaine pat her head.

"I know that his incarnation's ghost was a warrior, and it was easy to tell how similar they are" Olivia said "The legend happened, and what happened this day and age turned out differently. That was how it was supposed to be in the beginning, but no one knew" Froslass stared at the door "The princess remains here... Where ever Crystal's soul goes, Froslass will go"

"You sound so creepy when you say things like that..." Mia got the chills. Olivia smiled and looked down with her eyes closed.

"Maybe there's still hope?" Leah wondered.

"No, no there's not..." Wyatt shut his eyes, trying to say calm. Dad held his shoulder, making him look up.

"There's nothing we can do now... I understand how you feel. Everything was my fault, not yours... For what I tried making you do, you refused and hated us. You avoided us, and there was no way you were going to let Crystal out your sight. Now that I realize the truth, I get it..."

"I'm sorry..." Wyatt closed his eyes again

"Take care of the gym until we arrange the funeral and figure out things from then on. For now, all gyms are closed, so keep guard here, Wyatt" Wyatt nodded.

"Of course..." exchanging hugs and goodbyes, the Otashis left the castle and headed off to their rightful place until they are notified on what is going to happen next. Wyatt stared at Crystal's throne, remembering how much he liked treating her like a princess and hearing her whine when she didn't want him to keep bothering her. 

He smiled to himself and walked around the empty castle, passing by Crystal's room, not wanting to look at how awful she looked. Though she died happy, that's enough to make him feel like everything he did was worth it.

Delibird walked around his room, digging inside its bag like it tried looking busy "What are you doing in here?" He narrowed his eyes. Delibird jumped and rubbed the back of its head nervously "This is a bad time to give me a fucking letter from those people!" Delibird flinched and looked down, scared. He sighed and walked to the nearby wall and punched it as hard as he could, breaking his hand without feeling anything.

"I don't know how many times I have to say I'm sorry..." he fell on his knees, pressing his forehead on the wall, holding his bleeding knuckles, and sobbing "I'm sorry... I failed everyone" he cupped his mouth "Why did this have to happen...?" Someone knocked on the door hard

"Wyatt? Will you please come down?"

"Now is not a good time, Brenda" He sniffled. She cleared her throat.

"I-I understand... but you have a guest" he stood up and slowly walked to the door, opening it immediately for Brenda to see his hand bleeding "Your hand!" He walked past her

"Don't worry about my hand... The gyms are closed. We don't need a fucking challenger right now!" He snapped and rushed through the hall to run to the staircase leading to the main floor.

 Standing on the edge of the top floor, he spotted West standing there in the middle of the room, looking at nothing in particular, having Aegislash gripping on him from his wrist and arm to his neck.

"West?" Wyatt narrowed his eyes, seeing something wrong with West's posture "You're just now arriving? It's already too late" he walked down the stairs, watching Aegislash finally releasing him and throw him on the floor. He gasped for air and looked around.

"W-Where am I..?" He softly spoke to himself before looking up at Wyatt approaching him "Hey... You're that guy" Wyatt arched his brow.

"Yeah, I am"

"You're her doctor..." Wyatt sighed, pocketing his hands, ignoring the bloody one.

"Yeah well... I was" West flinched, feeling his heart dropped "You're late" his eyes started burning. He started scratching his arms, feeling the burning sensation like earlier in his room "You have some nerve arriving late. No, you have some nerve showing your face in front of me."

"I-I didn't mean for any of this to happen."

"I believe you. I don't blame you for anything, West. This was Crystal's choice. She always knew she didn't have enough time left to live, and she didn't bother trying to expand her life. She instead expanded yours" West shut his eyes.

"It wasn't supposed to be like this!"

"I know. No one blames you" he shook his head.

"I was the warrior! I was supposed to protect her! That was the plan! From the very start, I promised to take care of her, and later hearing about the legend, I wanted to release her from her curse... since she didn't live at all" Wyatt closed his eyes and walked to the other side of the room where Brenda stood.

"I understand completely. I was the one that kept her from a normal life all because I was selfish. Not only did I hate her family for what they did, I let my feelings get the better of me and kept her by my side at all times to a point where she got annoyed mostly through each day" he smiled at the memories of her yelling at him and throwing random stuff "After I realized what I've done, I regretted it since" West looked down, still looking up at him.

"You're her doctor... her butler, right? Or at least that's what she said. What right did you have to keep her in this..." he looked around the empty, lonely looking castle "cold place?" Wyatt held his side with a sigh.

"I had every right to keep her here, and I had the right to choose where she stays, but I didn't have the right to keep her family away... As the king of legend, I had asked the legendary Pokémon to gift me the knowledge to know how to handle the illness and curse."

"The king... so that spirit back in the temple" looked a lot like Wyatt, like West thought! "You're the king of legend, his incarnation anyway. Who... Who are you?" Wyatt smirked a little.

"I was her Fiancé" West's heart shattered more than it already was "Why did you think I had the right to all her plans? Why did you think she didn't tell me she was leaving?" Brenda blinked a few times, confused.

"I haven't heard of this..." West gulped "Why didn't she say anything-"

"It's been a secret for years now, but the story is quite difficult to explain. You see, I lived with the Otashis for years in my youth. Crystal stayed home all the time, and the family planned on visiting Kalos for a while as she stayed home. You have no idea how special Crystal is to me..." Wyatt closed his eyes, remembering the memories "We were soon leaving Kalos, and an accident happened. I was supposed to be dead. The police found a body in the woods I had the accident in. I fell from a cliff, and instead of finding my body, they found someone else's. Same height and everything, the reason why they thought it was me was because this child was half eaten. His face and even clothing, gone"

"O-Oh my.." Brenda accidentally gasped.

"They held his funeral in my name, and I stayed in that forest for a long time, wondering what happened until I traveled to find her family. They were gone, and I saw the news. For a child like me, I had a hard time traveling on my own through Kalos, but because I was very smart, I got my way through by working and did everything I could to travel back home. Nobody expected my return... I saw them all laughing together and having fun at the gate. I've been away for four years" he glared 

"they were playing together like I never existed. When I approached, everyone noticed and was frightened, all except for Crystal... who sat up in a tree and looked down at me with no emotions in her eyes. Her voice was my hope of life, showing me that I mattered. She welcomed me home" He looked at his bloody hand and looked at West's frown "I felt like nothing to that family, even if they apologized. Crystal was the only one that believed I'd come home

"--Crystal was hospitalized a few months later. I believed I had the power to help her, but Gabriel thought she'd be better off in that hospital, in the city where the war took place and damaged us greatly..."

"My home..." West said.

"I knew about the legend, and Gabriel wasn't having anything I was telling him, so I left. I knew I could do more. I had better things to do than take the crown of the champion. I rather take care of my little sister" All silence was spread in the room "yeah, there's the actual truth. Sorry about the lie, I just wanted to see what you'd do."

"So you're not really her Fiancé?" West gulped.

"No. I just tried boosting up my spirit a little by shattering someone's dreams" he chuckled "You know what the best thing about Crystal is? She shares at least one personality with all her siblings. She got the sense of joy of disappointing others from me."

"W-What?" West remembered the time she was giggling at Team Victoria back in the temple.

"She told me she planned to break your heart and disappoint you when she tells you she was an Otashi, but she decided not to do that and tell you her name was Hiyori, a name I go by and is actually our mother's maiden name."

"I-I see now... no wonder Hiyori kind of sounded familiar. Her eyes and everyone else's... even yours all look the same"

"It's the family recognition. We are all known to have the same eyes, as well as the ability to see the emotions from someone's eyes just by looking at them. You have so many emotions in your eyes that it's kind of hard to explain them all, but I can see the main one is guilt. There's no reason to feel any guilty. You should feel happy that it turned out she actually loved you and didn't want to cause you harm."

"That's not it! Even if I was shocked that she told me up to the very end... I still love her!"

"I know you do," Wyatt said calmly "I thank you from the bottom of my heart for taking good care of her. She's very stubborn, but even if she's cold-hearted, she has a warm soul" he took out a Pokéball "She told me you wanted to become champion..."

"Y-Yeah..." Wyatt smiled half-heartedly. 

"You'll have a better access to the league if you get past me. You didn't take Crystal's Badge, so why not take mine?" West's eyes widened "nobody ever knew of this, but I'm the 8th gym leader of Kannena, and I challenge you to a Pokémon battle."

"W-What?! I thought-" West jumped.

"You took Crystal away from me... You lied about knowing her back when we first met. As her big brother, I have the right to choose who she ends up with! Even if she's gone..." he bit his lips, holding back his tears "even if you two were meant to be just like in the legends... it doesn't mean anything! I hate you for what you could have prevented!"

-

Froslass overheard Wyatt's screaming from the main room downstairs. She frowned and looked over at the blackness covering Crystal's entire cheeks, completely taking over her body.

"So, this is what might have befallen me. I bore black marks upon my body throughout my upbringing, only for them to vanish once I made my wish. Damien bore the curse away from me—a curse placed by witches who held enmity toward the royal bloodline. I was exposed to them, marking me as their prey. I often ponder what might have occurred had I never been cursed... would I still have intervened to prevent his self-inflicted demise..?"

Crystal's Pokémon laid on her bed, crying on her body while Froslass picked up the Harmony Flute and played a note "perhaps..." she hugged the flute "This flute was intended for the King" she dropped it on the floor "If only I could turn back the hands of time and mend all that went awry... I wish I possessed the knowledge to eradicate that mysterious illness that plagued us" she tensed up and floated over to the Ice Orb on its scepter leaning against the wall 

"In the end... I lacked the courage to return this to the lake. It remained in my possession for so long, waiting for someone to grasp it once more. Yet, it should be consigned to oblivion. I was a fool to believe that anything could be set right... those innocent children did not deserve this fate" The princess took the scepter and left out the room, later feeling the presence of the warrior somewhere in the castle. She quickened her pace and saw West and Wyatt having a battle in the middle of the room

"What..?" She gasped, seeing Aegislash floating behind West yelling out to his Braviary to attack Wyatt's Sableye. Aegislash vibrated in place, slowly turning to where Froslass floated. She flinched, knowing something was off. 

Aegislash grabbed West's wrist, possessing his body once again, becoming utterly oblivious to the battle, and chased Froslass upstairs.

"Hey!" Wyatt shouted. Froslass rushed through the hallway, trying to avoid whatever is taking over West's body. Even if she felt the spirit of the warrior, something isn't right!

Out of nowhere, West, in a quick motion, grabbed the scepter from Froslass's grip and sprinted off. Wyatt ran up behind Froslass to see him running funny "What's going on?!"

"Something is occurring with Damien's spirit" the princess said "But how could this be..? It shouldn't persist here after the sacrifice!" she thought for a moment "What... What did Crystal wish for?!"

"Crystal? Why are you asking when you were with her! Weren't you?"

"She uttered her wish so softly... I couldn't discern a word. I believed I understood her desires, but this outcome is far from what I anticipated"

West's feet paced through the halls and rushed to find Crystal's room. He slammed the room door with his foot and stepped in, seeing Crystal laying lifelessly on her bed.

"West! Stop!" Wyatt shouted "I don't know what's happening to you, but you need to stop! Let her Rest In Peace!" West slowly walked to the side of her bed, staring at her peaceful face covered in shadows.

"Crystal..." West shed a tear. Aegislash gripped on his neck again, forcing the possession back in him "I shall make the sacrifice..." he spoke in a monotone "I shall make the sacrifice..." he reached to take Crystal's body. Wyatt jumped and grabbed his arm, only to jump back, screaming with blisters on his hand from the heat of West's skin.

"What the hell?!" He and Froslass watched West carry Crystal's body, seeing steam coming from her skin when making contact with him. West carried her off and opened the window, letting in the storm "Wait!" Wyatt reached out again, only for Froslass to stop him from getting hurt again. West peaked back at Froslass staring at him, seeing Damien somewhere in there.

"What's happening..?" Froslass frowned. West turned back to the window and jumped out, getting caught by his Cresselia and flew off north of Kannena

"WEST!" Wyatt shouted in the storm, watching them disappear "Why...? Why is this happening?! Princess! What's gotten into-" He looked down to see a Kirlia he hasn't met yet, standing in the middle of the room and watching them, holding something in its hand "Who are you?" Kirlia lifted the note in hand to give to Wyatt, intended to deliver it to him after Crystal's passing.