He walked through the forest, towards the edge of the wood. The daily trek all the way to the wild rose bush was becoming less of a chore every day. Invigorating, almost.

His fingers tingled as he thought of all of the experiments he could perform on the flowers: turn the stamen into medicine, the bulb could season a salad when diced just right and flash-freezing the petals made lovely gifts and decorations.

Vexen was all alone every day on his journey, finally able to escape everyone else and their social conventions. No. Vexen much preferred his solitude in the wild garden.

Which is why he was so surprised when he saw something deep in the bush. Looking closer he could barely distinguish a sidhe's hair from the pink roses. Examining the bush, Vexen concluded that he wouldn't be able to get the sidhe out without causing considerable damage to his body.

Vexen turned and ran home, getting there much faster than usual. He grabbed a potion from his shelf and, again, ran to the rose bush. When he got there the blond sidhe began meticulously pouring the potion on the bush, letting the plant freeze. Being careful not to touch the frozen branches, Vexen used a rock to smash the bush until he reached the man inside.

Vexen looked down at the sidhe under him and his breath caught. Never before had the blond seen a specimen as beautiful as this one. Nothing before had sparked such heat in Vexen's cold heart. Without thinking about it, Vexen found himself kissing the unconscious sidhe.

A hand on his face caused Vexen to pull back. The man's eyes were open: a deep cornflower blue with a hidden intelligence that pulled Vexen in. "I'm Marluxia," the pink-haired sidhe smiled.

"Vexen," he smiled back. "Will you come back to my place to get warm?"

"I'd like that," Marluxia leaned up to steal another kiss as Vexen helped him up. Marluxia held Vexen's hand as they slowly walked. Marluxia, entranced by the frozen shards of branch around him, reached out to touch one curiously.

"No, they can't be - " Vexen started, horrified, but it was too late. Marluxia's finger touched the blue twig and he fell limp. Vexen caught him, "touched," he choked out the rest of his sentence.

Vexen ran and lay Marluxia at the base of a tree. Marluxia's eyes fluttered open and Vexen saw light blue swirling in those eyes, slowly overtaking the deep intelligence he'd fallen in love with.

Vexen grabbed a wild rose from the bush, sitting over Marluxia and working quickly. "No, no, no," he muttered as he fussed. The poison flew through Marluxia's soul, freezing all personality and mental capacity.

Vexen kneaded the flower against Marluxia's skin, pulling the poison out of the sidhe and into the rose, turning it the light blue that Marluxia's eyes had taken on. Vexen was on the verge of a meltdown, running the fingers of his free hand across Marluxia's face and through is hair.

"Just a little longer, Marluxia. You'll be alright, I promise," Vexen laid a kiss to the other man's cheek as the air around them turned cold. Whether it was a sign that Vexen's magic was working or foreshadowing that it wasn't, Vexen didn't know.


Don't worry: I'm working on Once Upon A Heart. Celestial-Moon-Fire has chapter five and I'm writing chapter six. They should be up soon, promise.

This drabble is based off of a picture found here: http:/ blackcat-girl. deviantart. com/#/ d3kt62v