amongst the tan faces, dark tresses, and hot skin of the city of first ignis, oh sehun glows a sparkling white, his blond locks blinding beneath the rays of the sun, skin icy to the touch.  if this is no signal of his origins, the grays of his irises are a dead giveaway, earning him glares from the golden eyes that surround him and spit at his feet as ignis guards drag him through the streets.

he grins in spite, chuckling when he manages to get a finger on one of the guards' arms, uses his last ounce of ice energy.  the guard yelps and clocks him on the back of his head, but sehun continues to grin, the familiar blackness of ice overexertion burning in the edges of his vision, burns until he sees

nothing.

the people of ignis and glacies have not always been at war.  they have, in fact, been at peace with each other—friends, allies.  in the wake of a wildfire spreading to the cities of fourth and fifth glacies, all was forgiven.  but more fires arose, only spread further, burned past the forests and into the streets.  still, all was forgiven.

the prince of first ignis, suspiciously skilled at the art of wildfire creation, was crowned king, one with the spirit of a conqueror, one who valued war over alliance.  the fires did not stop, have not stopped even as the current ignis king took his place.

the war has been fought with only fire and ice, only from a distance, until now.  rumors of a new glacies plan of action have frightened the people of ignis, and ignis has retaliated without confirmation of this rumor, has burnt the city of first glacies to ruins.

sehun wakes with a scream.

fire.

“and how does that make you feel?” he hears.  restrained to an iron chair, he sees no one before him, unable to turn toward the voice.

“ you.”

“ha, ha, ha,” goes the voice.  “a humorous one we have here.  how about you be a good boy and tell me the plan?”

skin aflame, sehun grits his teeth.  “i don't know the plan.”

“ha, ha, ha.  but why else would you be here?”

sehun curls his fingers, lets out a frustrated snarl.  “i don't know the plan, so why don't you just kill me like the rest of them.”

the iron shines brighter, scorches with more heat.  “aw, come on, sehun.  that wouldn't be any fun, now would it?”

sehun's eye twitches as he places the voice.  “jongin.”

said boy springs out from behind the chair, jazz hands and all.  “ta-dah!”  somehow, sehun doesn't seem amused.  jongin frowns.  “what?”

“you are such a little ,” sehun growls, eyes a piercing blue.  “unchain me.”

jongin pouts, crosses his arms.  “why should i?  there's nowhere for you to go anyway.”

sehun's hands go cold, and he is suddenly all too aware of his surroundings.  “why am i in the palace?  shouldn't i be imprisoned?”

with a shrug, jongin cracks a smile.  “beats me, but i am quite entertained at the moment.”  he rolls his eyes at the flare of sehun's nostrils and reaches for the chains, pulls the locks open.  “you scream like a girl, by the—”

sehun seizes his shoulders, pins him to the wall.  “you think this is funny?  you think what they did is ing funny?”

the surprise on jongin's face quickly becomes sympathy.  “no, sehun, i just—”

“they killed everyone.  everyone, jongin.”

“i know—”

“shut your goddamn mouth, you don't know anything.”  it takes a few moments for sehun to relax his hold, to breathe.  he steps away, and jongin straightens his shirt, cautious.  “they killed her,” sehun says.

“be a little more specific, would you?”

sehun turns, eyes an angry storm.  “sehee.”

shaking his head, jongin steps toward him, mind going frantic, skin burning.  “no, the royal family is alive.  you're all alive.”  sehun stays silent, and jongin's breaths grow erratic, flecks of crimson in his eyes.  “you're here, you're standing right in front of me, you're not dead, they're not dead.  the order was to—”

“it wasn't your order.”

“no.”  jongin shakes his head again, meets sehun's gaze.  “no.  don't with me, sehun.  they told me you were all alive.”

“get your head together, jongin.  my parents are dead.  my sister is dead.  everyone.  the first city is gone.”

jongin looks away, swallows at the stinging frost in his throat.  after a while, he asks, “so why'd they keep the prince alive?”

a bitter smirk finds its way onto sehun's face.  “i know the plan.”