Before We Begin: I love you all, so please don't hurt me! *hides*

No one had ever seen the Dragon look so…lost…before. He paced the patch of floor in front of the tattered curtain that separated Yixing’s treatment room from the rest of the makeshift ward in the makeshift hospital, his eyes flicking over everything that resided in that room. No one knew what to say to him, and even if they did they were sure to have their heads bitten off. It was the first time that the two of them had been separated since they’d met, so neither of them knew how to deal with the loss very well. Minseok made sure that they were always together for many things they did, but this…without him, they were like puppies awaiting the return of their master. Kris spat out several embers and continued pacing, training himself for any noises that were sure to alert him to Tora’s condition.

Then voices filtered from the treatment room.

“Please stay down, you need to rest-“

“I can’t! Minseok needs me; he needs us!”

“Tora, please, rest!”

“No!”

Kris’ head snapped up. “Tora?”

“Yifan!” The use of his other name had the Dragon tearing aside the curtain to the treatment room as the Serpent dashed forward into his chest, pressing her face into the crook of his neck to fill her lungs with his scent again. Her nails dragged down into the back of his shirt, his own hands finding purchase on her shoulders to bring her as close to his body as was allowed without launching into osmosis. Yixing stumbled out of the treatment room moments later, slightly scratched up and wearing a scowl of epic proportions that didn’t fit onto his usually cheerful face.

“Leave her be, Yixing.” Chanyeol stopped the healer from making any move to separate the Serpent and the Dragon, who had stopped the tears and settled for drying each other’s eyes. The healer snorted out his distaste of the situation and sidled around the pair to tend to his other patients.

“Okay, I’m now calm. I have a headache the size of the EXO mountain range, but I’m calm.” Tora faced Chanyeol, Suho and Luhan, “What did I miss?” The trio immediately began to detail the situation to the Serpent, describing Minseok’s determination to retrieve his Guardians before anything else, the siege of Port Flake, and Kris’ rescue from Fort Diamond. Kris occasionally threw in his two cents worth, adding information that the others missed or was inaccurate.

“So…our Frost Gem has constructed an impenetrable blizzard around him and the fat moron trying to take his throne because he was there rescuing me after Kris had been rescued from Fort Diamond?” Tora asked.

“That’s about right.” Suho said.

“Good, means my headache isn’t as bad as I thought.” Yixing snorted loudly again, “So now all we have to do is get to Minseok and help him out. Simple.”

“But what are we supposed to do about the blizzard?” asked Luhan. Kris and Tora shared a look that suggested that they knew more about Minseok’s conjuring trick than they let on. The Eastern Prince narrowed his eyes at the two Guardians, waiting for them to explain themselves.

“This isn’t the first time Minseok has conjured a storm as powerful as this one.” Tora said finally. All jaws in the room dropped to the dusty floor.

“What do you mean?” asked Chanyeol.

“Back when Minseok was a teenager, he was always looking for ways to show off the immense power he knew he possessed,” Kris took over as the Serpent gripped his arms a little tighter at the memory, “We were training him in control of his power when he decided that he was going to create the largest storm he could. At the time, he could only wrap it around his body, but it was so powerful and so rough that he’d lost control of it. We could hear him screaming for help over the turbulent winds he’d generated.

“Tora and I transformed to try and get him out of there, but the chill factor in the air was freezing the tips of our wings and slowing our movements. We had to wait it out until Minseok had calmed down, but to do that we were roaring at him to reassure him that we hadn’t gone anywhere. As soon as he had some semblance of control over the storm Tora slipped through the defence and wrapped her body around Minseok’s in an effort to warm him up while I breathed fire over the two of them to keep them as warm as possible. Minseok vowed to us that he would only use that much power in exceptional circumstances.” Everyone was too stunned to speak after the Dragon’s story. They knew that natural powers could very easily grow out of control without proper training, which was why they were only used to the extent of the wielder’s confidence level.

“So all we need to do is wait for Minseok to lower the power of the blizzard before we can move in and help him?” Luhan spoke up. Everyone stared at him incredulously, “What?”

“You still want to go out there?” Chanyeol exclaimed, a few of his feathers dropping from his hair to the floor.

“You know, it’s not such a bad idea.” Tora rubbed her chin with her free hand, “Could you handle riding Kris again? I’d let you ride me, but you’d probably hinder my speed. No offense.” Luhan raised a hand in a ‘none taken’ fashion, standing up to grab his effects from the door.

“Need I remind you that you still have a head injury?” Yixing asked exasperatedly, gesturing wildly to the Serpent’s head. Kris leaned down and gently kissed the crown of her head.

“Not anymore.” he declared, “We’ll go get ready, Luhan. Chanyeol, Suho, get everybody ready for a final push. Flush the bastards out of the city for good.” Suho nodded at the Dragon, dragging the phoenix out amidst protest from said firebird. Yixing let out a loud snort of derision and turned to prepare himself for the onslaught of patients he was no doubt about to receive. Luhan affixed his sword to his belt and faced Minseok’s Guardians.

“Will you be able to do this?” Tora asked as she and Kris gently pushed past him.

“I have to. It’s for Minseok and the Northern Provinces.” he replied, his voice filled with his position as the Eastern Prince.

-

It was no use. Each move one made was countered or blocked by the other. They were two sharks circling around a common feeding ground, each waiting for the other to swim out of line before striking. The blizzard howled beyond their reach, shutting off any exterior sound, movement and influence to leave a silence that was perfect for concentration. Minseok huffed out a visible breath and faced The Glacier, the man’s ruddy face having paled the more they fought. It was now the colour of a pink rose, the kind someone might give a sweetheart as a cute gesture. Speaking of sweethearts, he wondered briefly how Luhan was doing before a longsword was ed at him.

“Give up now, Prince Xiumin!” The Glacier screamed over the stormy winds, “Your kingdom is mine!” He charged again, swinging his sword horizontally to cut the Northern Prince in the stomach. Xiumin jumped backwards to avoid it, using his own sword to swing down vertically at the rebel leader’s head. He blocked it with a loud clanging noise that shook the entire tower more than the blizzard was. Seeing his window, The Glacier pushed Minseok’s weight away and went for a blunt kick to the side of his leg. Crying out, Minseok stumbled backward, his back hitting the wall of the platform that they were fighting on.

“The Northern Provinces will never be ruled by a tyrant like you, because I refuse to let it happen.” he gasped, the force of him hitting the wall having winded him slightly. The Glacier ran a thumb over his blade and stared at Minseok with a maniacal expression.

“I believe that you are in no position to back up that statement.” He swept a hand around the empty area, “Your precious Guardians are nowhere to be seen, your prince friend is missing, and you’re running out of puff.” As much as Minseok didn’t want to agree with the man, he was right. Kris and Tora weren’t anywhere nearby, Luhan was probably out of his mind with worry, and he couldn’t keep up the blizzard for much longer without doing some serious damage to his own body. It was only the second time he’d conjured a storm as powerful as this one, but the first time he’d done it both his Guardians had been able to help him control it – Tora to point out its weak point ad Kris to brave it and get him out of it.

A solid blow to his side had him falling to his knees. “Now I believe that it is time to welcome the new Northern Prince.” The Glacier’s sword pointed at Minseok’s throat, giving him the opportunity to study his reflection. He looked paler than usual, tired and slightly bruised, but otherwise he felt he was in okay health. The sword was drawn back, ready to be ed forward again, but a loud roar cut off that action.

“What was that?” The glacier looked around frantically, trying to find the source of the sound. Minseok smiled a little. He knew exactly whose roar that was, turning his head to the left in time to see a turquoise and emerald blur streak upward and breathe corrosive venom over the canopy protecting the platform. It melted the structure and sent it toppling to the bottom of the tower dripping with acidic residue. A pair of roars had Minseok dropping the blizzard to conserve his energy, and a figure barrelled onto the platform like a tornado straight into The Glacier.

-

Luhan’s features were set into a frozen determination, having borne the same expression since leaving the makeshift hospital with Kris and Tora in tow. They’d wrapped him up in every available piece of warmth they could find, finishing the layering with the emerald feather cloak for added magical protection. It was decided that he would be sitting astride Kris for the journey, Tora having no appendages to cling to in turbulent winds therefore making her a poor choice. She could find the chink in Minseok’s winter armour quickly though, and having the weight of the Eastern Prince on her back would hinder her speed. He supposed that was a good thing about having Guardians that knew their specialities; there was no room for argument during crucial assignments.

“Is this as close as we can get to the tower?” he shouted. The Dragon gave out a rumble and flicked his head in the affirmative, then over to the Serpent hovering beside him. Luhan understood the wordless message.

“Tora, go!” She dashed off, a blur of turquoise and emerald that would have been a sight to see under normal circumstances. Luhan watched as she circled the storm several times, giving it the appearance of it wearing hula hoops around its middle. If Kai could move that fast without his teleportation he wouldn’t really need it, the Eastern Prince mused mentally. Kris huffed out a few sparks from his nostrils, some of the snow having gotten lodged up there.

“Are we too close now?” Luhan called. The Dragon flicked his head at the storm with a short growl. Luhan looked over and spied several long holes beginning to appear in the impenetrable blizzard.

“So that’s what you guys were talking about in the story!” The proverbial lightbulb was on now, “Minseok wants to keep himself from tiring out too quickly so he’s dropping the blizzard!” Kris growled in another affirmative and trained his eyes on the green-blue streak waiting for the opportune moment to fly through the winds. Luhan watched too as Tora found her opening and darted through it, streaking straight up with a loud roar and releasing a cloud of corrosive venom to weaken the canopy above the platform the two were fighting on.

“Now, Kris!” The Dragon took off like a shot, avoiding the corroded canopy as it fell to the ground in a heap of twisted acidic residue. Both he and the Serpent exchanged roars as Luhan leapt off his back, straight into The Glacier to get him away from Minseok. The two of them skidded across the platform until they hit the railing, Luhan getting up first to tend to his lover’s current state.

“Luhan?” Minseok was slightly dazed, “But how-”

“You can thank Kris and Tora when you see them. It was them that got me here.” The Eastern Prince brushed his thumbs over the Northern Prince’s cheeks, feeling how chilled and pale they were underneath his gloved hands. Minseok warmed to Luhan’s gestures as they both stood up, their visible breaths mingling between them as they revelled in the other’s presence again. Sadly, it had to stop as loud grunting from behind them forced the two to postpone their reunion. The Glacier staggered to his feet still gripping his sword, droplets of blood dripping down his chin and a thin line of blood along the edge of his sword.

“Got you…” he breathed out, smirking maliciously at Luhan. The Eastern Prince put a hand to his side, immediately wincing as pain met his fingertips. Minseok looked down, and saw the line that The Glacier’s sword had drawn in his lover’s side.

That was it.

As The Glacier brought his sword forward again the Northern Prince blocked it with Luhan’s still-sheathed sword, the manoeuvre doubling as a method of getting the Eastern Prince out of the line of fire and down so that his wound could be attended to properly. Using his own sword, the Northern Prince backed The Glacier against the opposite wall and shoved his roughly into his, whipping off one of his gloves and pressing his bare hand to the rebel leader’s chest over his heart.

“What do you plan to do now?” coughed the larger man, gasping as he began to feel all the warmth draining from his body.

“You are The Glacier, correct?” Minseok’s voice was void of all emotion as he focused on removing all traces of heat from his enemy’s body, “All glaciers are frozen right to the core.” Luhan’s eyes widened in his pain-ridden state as he processed his lover’s statement. Was he really going to…

“No!” The Glacier tried to thrash against the magic that flowed in his blood, sapping him of heat and life. But the more he thrashed, the harder Minseok pushed.

“Now you can truly live up to your name.” With one final burst of power, Minseok removed his hand from the ice sculpture formerly known as The Glacier. Panting, the Northern Prince dropped his sword and raced to his lover’s side, ripping at Luhan’s tunic to make up something to help stem the flow.

“Minseok!” Two voices called his name, footsteps on the platform indicating that Kris and Tora had joined them. Tora took one look at the ice sculpture at the other end of the platform and gave a low whistle.

“Inside out?” she asked.

“Yeah – ow!” Luhan flinched when Minseok pushed against the red line in his side, “Minseok, it’s superficial. I’ll be fine.” Kris yanked out one of Tora’s feathers from her hair, earning him a glare of protest, and passed it to the Northern Prince. Minseok took the feather and ran the tip over the Eastern Prince’s wound in careful waves. The skin began to knit itself back together slowly, excess blood being squeezed out so that it wouldn’t scab over. When he was satisfied with the job he’d done Minseok threw the feather away and stood up, throwing himself at his Guardians who caught him before he could hit the floor.

“I thought he’d…” he sobbed into the Dragon’s shoulder.

“You can’t get rid of us that easily.” Kris’ voice was rough with tears as he returned the embrace, Tora on Minseok’s other side, “You, of all people, should know that.” Minseok sobbed out a laugh and straightened up, wiping his eyes with the fabric sleeve of his armour. Luhan slowly rose to his feet and walked over to join them, wrapping one arm around his lover’s shoulders.

“We should get back into Port Flake.” he said, looking behind him at the damaged city, “Repairs will need to start, and the others will have driven out the remaining rebels by now.”

“Hey, it’s my city!” Everyone laughed when Minseok pouted, Luhan kissing the pout away as an apology.

“Luhan,” The Eastern Prince faced the Serpent, who had stepped toward him with a soft smile on her face, “Thank you.” She leaned up and placed a kiss on his forehead, which tingled long after she’d removed her lips. Luhan blinked at her as she placed a similar kiss on her own Prince’s forehead, Minseok beaming as she did it. Tora stepped back into her place beside Kris, who linked his hand with hers.

“Welcome to our family, Prince Luhan.” he said as both he and Tora bowed low. Minseok grinned and clapped his hands.

“Now all we need to do is make it official!” he squealed.

Author's Note: Now all we need is the wedding! Question: Should it be Part Five or should it be an Epilogue? Let me know!

-GuardianOfTheDawn :3