Where are you Yixing? Yifan tightens his grip around the horse as they gallop uphill. Yixing was not hard to track after they had found the flyaway cloak. Yifan busies himself with ideas on how to win Yixing over so that he would reverse the winter. "Yifan hyung." Baekhyun's quiet voice interrupts his fantasy of Yixing actually welcoming their intrusion. "Look." Baekhyun points and Yifan's jaw drops.

There is a bridge that looks as if it had been carved out of ice. The ice reflects the sunlight so that it looks blue and frost hangs off of it, glittering prettily in the sun. Yifan reins his horse in and they both stop and just stare. "This is Yixing's work." Yifan murmurs as he swings out of the saddle and onto the ground. Baekhyun nods, jaw still wide open. "It's beautiful." He whispers, fingers curling around the reins of his horse. 

Yifan release the reins and drop them over the nose of the horse, a signal for it to stay. He walks over to the shimmering ice bridge and tests it with his toe. "Think it'll hold our weight?" Baekhyun asks, carefully dropping the reins and walking over. "It will if we go on foot." Yifan answers as he grips the handrail. "It's a long way to fall if it doesn't hold." Baekhyun notes, looking down the ravine. Yifan shoots him a look. "What? I'm just being honest." Baekhyun raises his hands up in defense. 

"We better send the horses back then." Yifan knots his reins and runs up his stirrups so that they would not bang against the horse's sides as it ran. Baekhyun did the same and they sent the horses off in the direction of the town. Yifan brushes a hand over his forehead and strides towards the bridge. "We best cross one at a time." He curls his fingers around the handrail and winces at the cold biting through his glove. 

"I'll go first." He nudges Baekhyun out of the way and sets his foot on the bridge. Gingerly, he picks his way over the bridge and nods to Baekhyun when he arrives safely on the other side of the ravine. Once they both have safely crossed, Yifan points at the horizon where the tip of Yixing's ice castle is peeking through. "There." They are just about to start their way up towards the castle when the ground rumbles. "What the heck?" Yifan turns around and gasps. 

A massive snow covered thing is climbing slowly out of the ravine. Yifan reaches for the sword strapped to his hip and shoves Baekhyun behind him, ignoring his protests. They back away from the ravine as snow tumbles from the edge and falls inside the ravine as the creature clambers up. "When I say the word, you run okay?" Yifan whispers. "But..." "No buts." Baekhyun looks up at the monster and nods slowly. The creatures approaches them slowly as snow falls away from it to form a more recognizable animal. 

"Damn it Yixing. Really?!" Yifan curses. It is a massive alicorn, complete with a huge wingspan and a ing horn on its forehead. The alicorn has cold blue eyes that regard them with contempt. It tears on its hind legs and screams. The scream echoes through out the hillside and there is an answering roar. Yifan swears. An ice dragon crawls out of the ravine, tail swinging and mouth spitting snow. Its icy blue eyes focus on the pair and it roars. 

Yifan locks eyes with the dragon and mutters under his breath. "Get ready to run. I'll take care of the dragon." "But what about the horse?" The alicorn screams as if it had heard the common name and was offended by it. "It's an alicorn and all you have to do is to run. You hear me?" Yifan holds out his sword and Baekhyun cowers behind him. "On three." 

"Three, two... Run!" Yifan lunges for the dragon and Baekhyun scrambles away, breaking into a sprint. It is hard work because the snow is soft and deep, making it hard to run. The alicorn flares its nostrils and gallops towards Baekhyun. Yifan yells when the dragon sprays at him with ice bolts. He leaps and dodges, lashing out with his sword to strike at the dragon. Chips of ice fly off whenever his sword makes contact with the dragon.

Baekhyun darts up the hill, the snow slowing him down considerably. The alicorn screams and he turns to look, his heart in his mouth. It is bearing down on him, head down and horn deadly sharp. Baekhyun chokes on a scream and stumbles. He trips over his own feet and falls hard into the snow. "Baekhyun!" Yifan sees him fall but the dragon attacks him again, forcing his attention away from the alicorn. Baekhyun struggles to get up, the snow weighing him down.

He cries out in fear and unsheathes the dagger at his side. The alicorn is inches away from him when it jerks and screams, rearing onto its hind legs and spinning to face its new adversary. A young man pulls his sword from the alicorn's side, snow falling from the creature as it stumbles. The alicorn staggers and moans, the sound of despair attracting the dragon's attention. "Are you alright?" The strange man holds out a hand and Baekhyun just stares. "You saved my life." He gasps, accepting the hand. 

The alicorn screams in pain and Baekhyun winces at the assault on his eardrums. It collapses into its side and whimpers, snow falling from its icy body more rapidly. The dragon abandons Yifan and runs to the alicorn's side. It grunts and nuzzles at the alicorn with its snout as the alicorn wheezes and kicks. Yifan flips himself from where he had fallen and stares at the sight. The dragon snuffles sadly and the alicorn noses into the dragon's neck before emitting a sad sound and crumbling into a pile of snow. 

The dragon roars and the hillside shakes from the fury of its grief. It turns its wild eyes onto the trio and snarls. Yifan moves first, driving his sword into the side of the dragon, causing it scream in pain and spin around to face him. It growls at him but makes no more moves to attack them as it crumbles into snow as well. "You okay?" Yifan asks, reaching Baekhyun. Baekhyun nods and smiles shyly at the stranger who had saved his life. "Who are you?" Yifan asks, narrowing his eyes. "Jongdae. I live up here." The man holds out a hand for him to shake, mouth curling into a friendly smile.

"Did you happen to see a young man in dark clothes and can manipulate ice and snow coming this way?" Yifan asks, just to be sure. Jongdae nods and points in the direction of the ice castle. "That's his over there. I saw him build it." "Can you take us there? We have no idea how to get to it." Jongdae nods again and sheathes his sword. "Let's go then." 

Yixing seethes quietly in his castle. Someone had destroyed his beloved pets and he needs to know who. It had taken him a lot of effort to create the creatures and someone had destroyed them. His hand reaches out and draws the silver blue curtain close and he turns back to his bed, anger boiling inside of him. The anger dissipates when he brushes a hand over the locket Yifan had given to him on his sixth birthday. The locket contains portraits of them that his parents had commissioned to be painted. Yixing closes his eyes and leans against the wall. He misses his best friend.

Jongdae, they find out, is chatty and open. His family chops ice for a living in the summer but since summer has been compromised, he needs to find a new job before his family starves to death. Yifan feels guilt tingle in him when Jongdae brings up the eternal winter because it is partially his fault. They arrive at the castle in a relatively short amount of time, much to Yifan's surprise. All of them, even Jongdae who has seen it before, stop and gape at the splendor of the castle. Yixing, Yifan has to admit, is pretty good at what he does. 

They approach the castle cautiously, unsure of how Yixing may be feeling. When no nasty surprises pop out to attack them, Yifan turns to Jongdae. "I think it's best if you stay out here." Jongdae nods and smiles at Baekhyun reassuringly. Yifan gathers up his courage and knocks on the doors. When no one answers, he reaches for the handles but the doors swing open on their own accord, revealing a beautiful hall with polished floors and a crystal staircase leading to up to the upper levels of the castle.

"Yifan?" It is Yixing's voice. He sounded so timid and vulnerable compared to the time where they had been yelling at each other that Yifan's heart softens. "It's me." He answers, eyes searching for the source of the voice. He finds Yixing standing at the top of the staircase staring down at him. Yixing descends the staircase slowly, staring as Baekhyun appears behind Yifan. "Hi hyung." He grins cheekily. Yixing's eyes barely leave Yifan to see Baekhyun. "How did you find me?" He asks, hand reaching for Yifan. Yifan wraps his arms around him and nuzzles into his neck. "We guessed that you may have made for the hills." He mumbles into Yixing's neck and he shivers.

"Are you staying?" Yixing asks as they separate. Yifan exchanges a glance with Baekhyun and moves forward to grab Yixing's hand. "We were hoping that you would come back." He murmurs, tracing his fingers slowly over the lines on Yixing's palm. Yixing stares. "I can't." He tugs his hand out of Yifan's grip looking wounded. "I can't control the damn thing and I can't be king anymore anyway. Won't you stay?" He pleads, looking up at Yifan's face with his best puppy dog expression. "Xing." Yifan whispers, moving to engulf his best friend in his arms again. "They need me down there. If you don't want to return, at least reverse the spell. The people are going to freeze to death of this continues." 

Yixing pushes Yifan away harshly. "I knew it! You would never come up the mountain for me! You just wanted me to reverse it so you can all live happily ever after and I will have to spend the rest of my life in some sort of prison!" He yells and turns around preparing to stomp away but Yifan catches his wrist. "Yixing please! Be reasonable! They would never..." "They would and you would let them because you think I'm a freak!" Yixing throws back, trying to wrench his arm free from Yifan's hold. 

"Hyung please?" Baekhyun steps forward and Yixing's eyes narrow. "You think I'm the prophecy don't you?" He accuses and watches in grim satisfaction when Yifan's grip loosens. "I don't and you know that." Yifan murmurs, looking at his best friend with sad eyes. " you." Yixing whispers venomously. "You're dreaming if you think I'm going to reverse my spell. Leave and don't ever come back." He points to the door and turns around. Yifan grabs his shoulders. "Yixing..." "I said NO!" He s his hands outwards, pushing Yifan away from him. 

A bolt of ice explodes from his fingertips and strikes Yifan in the left side of his chest, catching him off guard. "Ugh." He collapses onto the icy floor, holding his chest in agony. The ice was so cold that it burns him from the inside out. "Hyung!" Baekhyun screams, crouching at Yifan's side. "Ah." Yifan bites his lip when he tries to sit up, pain shooting thorough his chest. Yixing turns around and his blood runs cold. "No! Yifan, Yifan!" He drops to his knees at his side and tries to help him up. Yifan looks at him, body heaving and trembling. White starts to spread from a single strand of Yifan's hair and Yixing freezes. "Your.. Your hair!" He chokes, regret filling him, hot and painful. "Xing." Yifan mumbles, reaching up to touch him. His eyes were filling up and Yifan had a sudden realization that he might bolt. 

Yixing lays a hand on his shoulder and abruptly jerks away when frost starts to spread across his shirt. Baekhyun keeps a hand around Yifan's shoulders, helping him sit up. He sends Yixing a reproachful look and Yixing's heart breaks. "Fan..." He pleads, hand reaching out for his friend.  "Don't touch him." Baekhyun snaps, eyes dark with anger. Yixing flinches and withdraws his hand. "Come hyung. We're leaving." Yifan protests, struggling to get his feet under him. "No, Baek..." "We'll find another way." Baekhyun cuts him off sharply and drags him to his feet. Yixing watches from his spot, heart in his mouth as Chanyeol's words swirl around in his head. Freeze his heart and even I can do nothing. 

Yifan is going to die.