The first few weeks of Minny's recovery were slow and during that time, she was never out of Ice's sight, more to Minny's own wishes then Ice's. The young Buneary was still recovering from the traumatic three years she'd been forced to endure as well as the agonising injuries that were taking their time to heal. She couldn't yet walk on her own, mainly staying curled up next to the fire that burned in Ice's cave, her once brown but now silver eyes staring at the fire without ever seeing the flicker of the flames. The bright light was once of the few things she could see through the curtain that misted her vision. The bright orange light gave a soft glow to the darkness she saw, like looking at the sun through closed eyes on a cloudless day, it was little but it offered some peace through her tormented mind.

Pain ruled over most Minny's emotions, leaving the young Buneary with nothing but emptiness. She didn't want to feel this way, more then anything she wished things could go back to the way they were, even if it was the was after she'd gone blind. She just wanted to feel again. Be able to feel love and joy, and happiness and kindness not just the bitter feeling Drapion had seeded in her mind.

Ice never left Minny alone for a moment, if he had to leave, he would leave Bubble to care for the little Buneary. Word around the village spread quickly that Minny had returned. Many wished to see for themselves but Ice refused to let anyone near her, knowing that to many strange Pokémon around her would only serve the young Buneary more pain and fear then the depressed little one should take.

He watched her snuggle by the fire, her ears curling and uncurling themselves for reasons that Ice didn't understand but they stopped at the sound of approaching footsteps, twitching in the Beartic's direction as Minny tried to identify the one coming her way.

"Come on Minny, we're going out." Ice announced calmly, knowing he'd receive resistance from the frightened young one but know she needed to get out of the cave for a while.

Minny shook her head and flinched back. "I-I don't want to, wha-what if Drapion's out the-there and he--" she cut herself off by burying her head in her not so fluffy or yellow fur. "He's o-out there Ice, he's going t-to take me b-back i-if I g-go out th-there."

Ice let out a small sigh, mentally noting the slight improvement in her speech, lowering himself to Minny's level, nudging her side gently. "Come in Minny, you're a mess. We're going to get you cleaned up, and I promise you that he won't be getting near you ever again."

Minny threw her paws around Ice's snout and sobbed into it. "P-please don't mmmm-ake mmme g-go out there. I'm s-scared." She whimpered as Ice let out another sigh. "I'd never force you to something you didn't want to do Minny. Can you just give it a go?"

She shook her head, trembling in fear as small tears rolled through tracks in the dirt that stained the young Buneary's fur. Ice carefully pulled the baby Normal type Pokémon from his snout and held her in his paws, gently rocking her to help calm Minny's nerves of fear. For while, she just held onto Ice, sniffling into his fur. "I-I'm really s-scared Ice, please d-don't m-make me lea-ve."

"I would never force you Minny, but you're a mess. Wouldn't you like to be clean again, get all this muck from your fur. I promise we won't be out long, just to the springs and back before dinner."

Again, Minny shook her head. "N-not yet, m-maybe tomorrow. Please?"

A gentle sigh came as Ice's response as he nuzzled his friend in his arms. "Okay, we'll try again tomorrow." He smiled lovingly at Minny as she let out a breath of relief, cuddling close to Ice like a teddy bear. The Beartic brought her over to the bed the two of them shared. Minny did have her own, but she didn't use it anymore, preferring to be closer to her protector when she slept.

He let her settle in his arms, stroking the fur of his arms as she often did. "I-ice?"

"Yes Minny?" Ice replied softly, gently laying his head on his paws next to his little friend. This how the two would spend most afternoons, quietly talking to each while curled by the fire. The feeling of Ice being so close to her often reassured Minny that she was okay and she didn't have to worry about someone sneaking up on her if Ice wasn't around.

For a few moments Minny didn't reply, her mind swimming with a question that had been burning on her mind for the past few weeks. "A-are we f-family?"

The question shocked Ice but he knew his answer right away, but he also knew that a simple yes or no answer wouldn't satisfy Minny's curious mind so he answered her question with another question. "What do you think?" His tone even and sure, smiling down at his friend though she could not see it.

Once again, Minny took her time to respond, closing her eyes as she searched her mind for what family really was. She had no answer, a family was something Minny had never before been apart of and so the definition for her was fuzzy. "I d-don't know, I've nnnever had a-a f-family before. I-I've always b-been al-alone."

"What do you think family is?" Ice continued, once again letting Minny ponder on the answer.

She shut her eyes, thinking of all the different traits families in the village shared. The common thing among the many differing shapes and sizes. "I g-guess family w-would be... Someone y-y-you can rrrrely o-on. Someone w-ho l-loves yo-you i-in every way no matter if there are things wrong or different about you. Someone who you really really love."

"Is that how you feel about me?" Ice's smile grew as he nudge the side of his little friend.

Minny's answer came without hesitation. "Yes, I-I r-r-really really d-do."

"Then I guess we're family, because I love you more then anything else." He chuckled, lightly nuzzling her chest. He made sure to be gentle, knowing that although Chansey had heal Minny's rib cage of any breaks but the bone was still extremely frail but the giggle he received in response from the Pokémon he viewed as his own daughter gave his the assurance that he wasn't hurting her in the slightest.

"I-I l-love you t-to Ice." The Buneary purred, cuddling Ice's muzzle. She felt his warmth, she felt the love he offered her, she felt something inside her stir, something she hadn't felt in a very long time. A small smile tugged at her lips, coaxing her to she her joy through the barrier she had built to protect herself from harm, the barrier Ice was slowly taking down piece by piece until she understood that she was no longer in danger.

For a while there was silence, Minny shifting through the broken remanence of her mind, though, she knew it was much better then it was a few weeks ago. She'd found someone wiling to help her pick up the pieces and put her back together. The love Ice felt for her had warmed her spirit, brought meaning to her life the way only he could but questions still plaited her mind and darkness rooted fear, which prevented her from escaping the maze the falling pieces of her mind had created.

"Ice?" Minny questioned again, her uninjured paw gently stroking Ice's fur, feeling it's fluffy warmth between her fingers.

"Yeah?" Ice mumbled, opening an eye to look at his little friend.

Once more, Minny had to think of her question. She didn't want to offend Ice or sound ungrateful for his care but a question had burnt in her mind since they day they met and it was a question she needed an answer to. "Why d-didn't yo-you eat m-m-me all th-at time a-ago? When w-we f-f-first m-met, wh-at m-m-made m-me diff-er-ent."

This question was harder for Ice to answer, he spent several minutes of silence thinking hard about his response. "You felt special. When I first attacked the village, I killed the village leader, your father, as my way of claiming it for my own. But when he fought me, he didn't fight for himself, he fought for you. I left you alive when you were a newborn because of that and I guess my feelings since then never changed. I'm not sure completely, I don't like to think about... Who I was." Minny felt Ice's muscles tense beneath her as the silence settled in. "Maybe that's enough questions for tonight..." He was anything but proud of the pain he'd caused Minny when she was younger, knowing that a lot of her life's heart ache could be blamed on him.

"One m-more ques-stion?" Minny asked, waiting to ask the final question she'd been wondering for a long time now.

"Go ahead." Her elder smiled.

Minny took a deep breath in, knowing that the question she asked could branch off into several directions and not knowing if the answer she got would be the answer she needed to hear. "If y-you could t-take i-it a-all back, would y-you?"

Ice stared at Minny in surprise for several moments, not quite knowing what to do with the deeper conversation he was having with the younger Pokémon. "Of course I would but unfortunately for many Pokémon of the village, there's nothing I can do to change the pain I caused but I can only try my best."

"B-but, if ev-verything changed th-then yo-you would have n-n-never m-met mme. What th-then?"

"I'm not sure... We're in the present Minny, what happened in the past cannot be changed. I've done a lot I am ashamed of and I'm trying to leave that behind me now. Things have changed in your absence and now you must learn how Pokémon have changed and grown."

"S-sometimes I wish th-things-s wouldn't change, if ev-verything was always th-the s-same th-then it wouldn't b-be s-so hard t-to grow." Minny sighed. He life seemed to be one downward spiral after the other, leaving her trapped in the coils.

"But if things didn't change, you wouldn't grow. If things nothing ever changed there would be no Butterfree's." Ice smiled, the childhood words of his mother ringing in his ears as the faded thought of what she might think of Minny etched upon his mind.

"But th-then I wouldn't b-be blind, I wouldn't b-be s-so useless." Small tears gather in her eyes and Minny buried her face into Ice's fur.

"You're not useless." He argued, an irritated tone making itself clear in voice cause Minny to flinch.

"Am s-so." The Normal type pouted. "I-I ca-can't ev-en walk on m-my ow-n an-y-more. I c-can't ev-en s-speak prop-erly."

"Minny, you're young and full of life. You smile more then any Pokémon I've ever seen, even if you're different. Just because you're going through a bit of rough patch doesn't mean you're completely useless." Ice gently nudge Minny's back, trying to coax her from his fur.

"I s-spent th-three years in a d-ungeon. A t-tiny little c-cell with n-no way out. I was f-f-forced t-to e-eat rotten moldy b-berries and i-if I rrref-used Drapion would ffforce th-them down m-my th-roat. The on-ly w-water I w-w-was given w-was full of po-pond m-muck and dir-t. I w-was helpless, I-I c-couldn't do an-anything. I'm us-eless I-ice." She lifted her head to see nothing, her broken expression plastered within her silver eyes. The memories flooding her mind, not scenes like most memories were but sounds and feelings, things she tasted and smelt hung around her like a bad smell, tormenting her frail mind.

"Minny." Ice said, pitying his little friend. He wanted more then anything to make her feel better, to help her gain back the confidence and life Drapion had stolen. Ice wanted Minny to see in herself what he saw in her everyday he'd known her. "You're still young, just because you couldn't defeat a full grown Pokémon like Drapion doesn't mean you're useless. I had a hard time beating him and I'm like ten times your age." He heard a tiny giggle at the vast over exaggeration of his age, though he was still quite old as far as Beartic went. "Look what you've done for the village, you turned me from there enemy to an ally which I still don't know how you managed to do but you did it. Not a single other Pokémon could have done that."

She sniffled slightly as she buried her face back into his fur. "But I-I s-still feel s-so us-seless."

"You're a beautiful little Buneary Minny, you should never think otherwise because of what other Pokémon say. I love you for you, because of who you are. How many Pokémon do you think I can say I really love, or even like. I can think of three... Two of them I only agree to tolerate because of you."

Minny giggled slightly, cuddling closer to Ice's chest. "Thank y-you Ice." She murmured. "I d-don't kn-now where I-I'd be w-without yo-you. Th-thank you f-f-for taking m-me in an-and h-helping m-me and finding m-me and nnn-not a-abandoning m-m-m-me and and and--" Unable to contain herself any longer, Minny burst into tears, letting out everything she'd been holding in for years, wrapping her paws in Ice's fur as he hugged her close. She felt the even drumming of Ice's heart beneath the think layer of snowy fur, steady and reassuring. She felt Ice return her embrace, holding her tightly while he spoke.

"You're safe now Minny, I don't care what happens in the future, I'll keep you safe."

The young Buneary slowly calmed down in the embrace of her parents like Pokémon, her breathing eased and her heart found a steady rhythmto beat with along side Ice's. She felt safe, like nothing could ever hurt her but could help but feel she was disappointing him by hiding away. So, gathering every morsel of courage within her, she decided that the spring might be a nice change after all. "I-ice?

"Yeah?" He sighed.

"I th-think I-I'm r-ready to g-go out n-now, to th-the hot s-springs for a b-bath. As l-l-long as y-you stay w-with m-me." She tightened her grip slightly on her friend, trying to stop herself from shaking. Even though Ice noticed, he set aside the thought, knowing that cleaning up his little friend would stop the risk of further infection to her healing wounds.

He was silent as he went through the hour in his head. "Well I think we can make it there and back before dark and guess what?" A toothy smile formed as he rode to his feet, keeping a paw close to Minny so she knew he was still there.

"What?" She inquired as Ice picked her up, cradling the little one in his arms as he exited the cave.

"We have to pass through the Petcha Berry trees on the way home, maybe we could bring some home for dinner." He smiled as Minny beamed.

"O-oh y-yes yes y-yes!" She giggled, twitching slightly when the coolness of the forest met her fur. Minny shut her eyes, letting the feeling of fresh air wisp through her fur and dance around her with it's icy air. She hadn't felt this in years since she's spent the entirety of the past few weeks coped up in her elder friends cave and the change in wind was something Minny welcomed openly.

🌙❄🌟❄🌙
2801 words