“Gege. Pssst, Minseok! Pssst.” A small figure jumps onto the bed and it dips slightly. “Wake up, wake up, wake up!” Little fists pull the plush covers down and Minseok groans.

“Go back to sleep, Lu Han.” He breathes out, fumbling lazily for the duvet that was so childishly pulled from him.

“But I can’t,” Lu Han drapes himself over his brothers side, “the sky’s awake, so I’m awake, so we have to play!”

“Mmm, go play by yourself,” Minseok sleepily whines, pushing his brother away (who falls unceremoniously to the floor), then attempts to nuzzle back into the warmth of his bed. Lu Han huffs a lungful of air before glinting up vexatiously.

“Do you wanna build a snowman?” Minseok’s eyes shoot open, the corners of his mouth perking into a mischievous smile - one that’s mirrored perfectly back at him.

--

“Come on, come on, come on, come on!” Lu Han insists, pulling his brother down the stairs in a mad flurry of snow boots and arm flails.

“Shh! You’ll wake up mum and dad!” Minseok tries, but they’re both too excited for his reprimand to take much effect. With a careful push, the large doors to the ballroom open soundlessly. Minseok nudges his brother inside, and closes the door with just as much care as he opened it.

“Do the magic! Do the magic!” Lu Han urges with bright eyes. Minseok giggles and starts to wave his hands together. It’s not long before small snowflakes begin to dance between his hands, more snow accumulates and he starts rolling the freshly formed powder into a round shape. Satisfied with the size of his snowball, he throws it up high into the ceiling of the ballroom. Before it reaches the crystal chandeliers, the compact snow explodes into a sprinkling of white. Lu Han shrieks in delight and runs around grasping at the flakes before they melt, catching them in his palms and mouth.

“Ahhhh! This is amazing!” Lu Han exclaims, spinning in circles.

“Watch this!” With a stomp of his booted foot, Minseok covers the floor with a film of ice, causing his brother to momentarily lose his footing. Lu Han slides away, laughing as he tries to keep his ground on the slippery surface. He busies himself with creating fresh mounds of snow, packing them into bigger balls, growing and growing until his brother takes notice and skids over to join him.

“Gege, help please!” Lu Han struggles to lift one sphere on top of the other. An extra set of hands join, their snowman begins to take shape.

“Lulu, wait for a sec!” Minseok skates over to the door and opens it a crack, stepping outside into the warm summer air to search for decorations. He returns with smooth pebbles and knotted sticks which slide smoothly into the compacted snow. Lu Han’s eyes crinkle into a large grin as Minseok makes his way behind the snowman.

Toggling with the makeshift arms, he speaks, “Hi, I’m Yixing and I like warm hugs!” in the most nasal tone he can muster. Lu Han is upon ‘Yixing’ in seconds, carefully wrapping his arms around the figure of snow.

“I love you, Yixing!” He proclaims.

“Shall we dance?” ‘Yixing’ offers, Lu Han accepts. Minseok steps back from the two, and with a push to the air the two go spiralling off into a dizzying routine around the frozen ballroom. Twirling and whirling, a soft wave coaxes wisps of white to form and tiptoe around the two, complimenting each revolution. Around and around the couple dance, Minseok not too far behind, eyes bright to the magic he’s creating. Sparkling laughter brings the ballroom to life while snowy plateau’s form.  It surprises Minseok, breaking his concentration and accidentally sending the pirouetting pair into a pile of snow. Lu Han looks momentarily startled at his partner - now reduced to an indent in the snow - but the expression passes when he looks to the elder with a gleam in his eyes. He scraggles to climb above the knoll.

“Catch me!” He leaps into the air fearlessly.

“Gotcha!” Minseok casts a firm peak to catch his brother. Lu Han climbs to his feet and jumps again. The elder creates continuous dunes and Lu Han learns to land on his feet.

“Again! Again!” The jumping speeds up and Minseok struggles to keep pace.

“Slow down! Ah-” a trip of the foot and they’re both falling. Panicking, Minseok sends a gust of snow to catch his brother, however it misses it’s target and Lu Han lets out a pained cry before tumbling down the half-formed pile of snow, laying still at the base.

“LU HAN!” Minseok screams, tears building up as he sprints to his brother whom he collects in his arms. A tuft of white hair shines new among the dark brown which Minseok carefully brushes away from Lu Han’s face.

“MAMA! BABA!” Minseok chokes out, breaking down into a sob. A frosty chill settles upon the room as time seems to stop. Ice cracks and splinters. The sound of crumbling ice joins Minseok’s hysteric cries as the main doors are forced open.

“Minseok, what have you done?” Their father gasps, taking in the state of the room. “This is getting out of hand!”

“Lu Han!” The Queen rushes to their son, scooping him up and out of Minseok’s arms.

“It was an accident.” Fresh tears bubble over and cascade down Minseok’s cheeks, “I’m sorry, Lu Han.” He withdraws his knees to his chest and hugs them tightly, trying to anchor himself and still his shaking form.

The Queen looks to her husband, stricken with panic. “He’s ice cold.”

He places a comforting hand on her shoulder. “I know where we have to go.”

--

Bramble breaks underfoot as the two horses push through the mountain and into the night, leaving frost-kissed ground in their wake. Venturing further and further into the foliage makes for a quick trip; it’s not long before they arrive at the Valley of the Living Rock. The royals dismount their horses; the King helps Minseok to his feet while the Queen cradles a still unconscious Lu Han.

“Please, help. My son.” The King calls into the cool night air. Anticipating foggy breaths break the the quiet ambiance.

The ground starts to rumble, the trees shake. Minseok hides further into his father’s cloak, squeezing his eyes shut and holding tightly to his leg as large stones hurtle towards the family. Closer and closer the rocks tumble, halting just a step away from the four. After a moment of still, the boulders unravel to reveal multiple sets of widened eyes.

“It’s the King!” Chain reactions of the same exclamations unfold throughout the valley before it parts to make room for an older troll whom gives a bow of respect to the family.

“Your Majesty,” he looks to Minseok and takes his hand, “born with the powers or cursed?”

The King kneels and rests a hand on Minseok’s shoulder who looks back and meets his father's eye, silently requesting him to explain.

“Born.” He gently squeezes his son for reassurance. “And they’re getting stronger.”

The troll gives a nod. “Here, here.” he requests while motioning for the Queen to bring Lu Han to him. Carefully placing his rough hand on his forehead for a second, he examines the young prince.

“You are lucky it wasn’t his heart.” The family looks to each other. “The heart is not so easily changed, but the head can be persuaded.”

The King glances at his wife then his children before locking gaze with the troll. “Do what you must.”

Sliding his hand from Lu Han’s forehead to the space beside it, magic projects the ballroom scene into the night sky.

“I recommend we remove all magic, even memories of magic to be safe…” with a point of a finger, he casts periwinkle glitter into the air which moves to distort the memory, “but don’t worry. I’ll leave the fun.” The sparkles dissipate to reveal a scene of the two siblings sledding in the open snow. The same magic works on the memories following; nightgowns traded for winter coats and outside areas in replacement for ice-tainted ballrooms. Bringing his hand back to Lu Han’s head, the revised memories are reinjected which brings forth a serene smile to the face that was stuck in a nightmare-ish discomfort seconds prior.

“He will be okay.” The troll informs them, bringing his hand away from Lu Han.

Minseok breaks away from his fathers embrace to crouch over his brother, his eyes downcast as he mumbles. “But he won’t remember I have powers?”

“It’s for the best.” The King tries to reason with his son.

“Listen to me, Minseok.” The troll calls Minseok to him and turns away from the family. “Your power will only grow.” Raising his arms, he conjures figures in a translucent azure - the center obviously the prince. “There is beauty in it,” the figures shimmer in a representation of his ice magic before it congeals into a large snowflake that hangs above them, “but also great danger.” The snowflake breaks and red refracts through the spikes. Punctuated with a sharp intake of breath, Minseok’s eyes widen. “You must learn to control it,” the blue figures reappear underneath the angry shape - the shimmer-turned-shake of the illusion leaves an uneasy feeling in the prince’s stomach - one by one, each mirage takes on the scarlet hue. Leaving the one in Minseok’s image the lone blue figure. “Fear will be your enemy.” The wicked crimson engulfs the panicking cerulean before disappearing completely.

Minseok gasps, stumbling back into his father’s embrace and curls his arms into his waist. The King wraps his arm around his shoulder protectively, trying to still Minseok as he shakes violently by his side.

“No.” The King looks to his wife, and with a nod of affirmation he continues. “We will protect him. He can learn to control it, I’m sure.” He looks searchingly into the trolls eyes.
“Until then, we’ll lock the gates.” He brushes the Queen’s cheek with an assuring smile.
“We’ll reduce the staff.” He comfortingly rubs Minseok’s arm.
“We will limit his contact with people,” he pulls Lu Han’s hair away from his face lovingly.
“And keep his powers hidden from everyone…”

“...Including Lu Han.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Oh my god, hi! I hope you enjoyed this (???) I know some of you have been waiting like three months for this (I am so sorry, oh my god.) I actually wrote the first 1000 words in the week of posting the foreword, then I got stuck and school absolutely consumed me. It still is OTL It's only because I finished my available assignments and had time to churn out the last 700-or-so words on the car trip home did I get this done OTL

Thank you so much to the people who've kept subscribed to this, and I hope the literal appropriation of the film doesn't bother you - I was actually getting pretty angry with it and thought about scrapping the entire thing to then just write it in a different prose, but then I realised a) little writing experience, and b) I've made you guys wait this long anyway ahahah

Tonnes upon tonnes of hearteus to my betas PrincessOfAlbion and nestababe! <3 Biggest saranghoe to you both <3