Prologue

The fall air was fresh and crisp. The nightly view of the Aurora borealis was breathtaking. As well as the castle that it hung over. And the ones who resided in it were all asleep. Except for one young prince.

Shadow snickered at the plan he thought to wake up his older brother. Shadow was a black hedgehog with red streaks in his fur and red eyes. At the moment he wore a loose brown shirt that was tucked into darker brown pants. As he made his way across the small room which he and his older brother, Lancelot, shared. He finally found his target. Lancelot was fast asleep in his dark grey bed until he heard his younger twins voice. "Lancelot! Lance!" Shadow crawled onto the bed and sat on top of his brother. "Wake up! Wake up!" He said while shaking and jumping up and down.

"Shadow, go back to sleep. It's too late at night." Lancelot grumbled, but still tried to hide his smile.

"Most people are up this late. Besides it's a special day today. You remember, right?" Shadow asked in a suspicious tone but allowed a smile on his face.

"Mhm. Today is the Fall Festival, Shad." Lancelot mumbled, smiling now. "That was a nice chat. Good night." Then he closed his eyes, hoping his brother would let him go to sleep. He was wrong.

Shadow laid down on his brother and sighed dramatically. "Lance, the sky's awake, so we have to wake up, so we gotta play."

"Go play by yourself." Lancelot shoved Shadow off his bed and he then landed on the floor with a thud.

Shadow pouted for a minute then came up with an idea. He smiled and climbed back on the bed and sat back on his brother. He forced opened his eye and asked, "Do you wanna build a snowman?" And that was when Lancelot opened his eyes and smiled.

After a few minutes, Lancelot had gotten out of bed and had put on a dark brown shirt with black pants. Now he was being pulled by an excited and happy Shadow who kept saying "Come on, come on, come on!" while Lancelot kept trying to hush him. Finally they came to the throne room. It was widely opened space and had dark brown pillars. On the wall across from the main door were two grand seats that, often the king and queen themselves would sit upon. But at the moment the two twin brothers were going to have their fun. "Are ya ready, Lance?" Shadow asked his older brother. He smiled and nodded his head. Shadow smiled as well and held out his hands. Then white snowflakes appeared and when it formed into a snow ball he threw it up into the ceiling, where it exploded into millions of other snowflakes. Shadow and Lancelot jumped around and spun until Shadow stopped and told his brother, "Lance! Watch this!" He then touched his foot to the floor which turned to ice. He was able to keep his balance but Lancelot was slipping and falling on his butt and still managed to smile.

They played and laughed in the snow that had started to build into miniature hills. But it would not last as long as they wanted. Lancelot was beginning to tire out and was panting. He sighed, "It was fun Shad, but I think we should head back to bed before we get into trouble." He then started to walk in the direction of the door. But he stumbled a little when he felt a cold, yet firm object hit him then spill down into his shirt. He shivered a bit and then turned around to give his little brother, who was holding a snowball, a playful glare. "Or maybe we could go another round." Then the two twins got into a playful snowball fight. But as they played, neither suspected what was to come.

Shadow was behind a small snow hill and was waiting to ambush his brother with snowballs. He snickered and laughed silently to himself as he was forming snowballs with his powers and was ready to attack. Lancelot was planning on an ambush as well and had a lot of snowballs ready. "Ready or not Shad, here I come!" Lancelot yelled playfully.

"Right back at cha, Lance!" Shadow yelled, getting ready to strike. "Let's settle this with a deal. Whoever wins gets the throne when their older! It'll still be you though…" Shadow mumbled the last sentence. He knew he would never have a chance against his older brother to take the throne. But it was nice to know that his brother would often give him a chance to prove himself worthy once in a while.

"Okay Shad!" Lancelot shouted in a playful manner. "You win! I surrender!" He quietly snuck out of his hiding place and was stalking his way to his little brother. He was going to ambush him and then he could finally end this and get a good night's sleep with a sense of victory in his mind.

"You… you really do surrender?" Shadow couldn't believe it. He and Lancelot would always fight over things. From being first to the breakfast table to getting to bed on time before the maids make them drink some terrible fluid that makes them feel better. Lancelot had sometimes surrendered but always found a way to get what he wants. "You really… mean it?" Shadow asked, still uncertain.

"No." Shadow snapped his head to the left and was met with a snowball to the face. He stumbled back and, by accident, shot a blast of ice to Lancelot. Lancelot had only a moment to react, but it was too late. The ice had made contact with his left arm and froze his hand in a way that made it look as if it was trying to block something. Lancelot fell to the ground and screamed. His hand and arm felt like it was pierced with tiny frozen needles and was increasing as it very slowly spread up his arm. "Ahhh- ahh- AHHH!"

Shadow was watching in horror at what he had done to his brother. He hadn't meant to, he was surprised at the sudden attack and he didn't think of anything else but to defend himself. And he just used what he had been gifted with. But now it was a curse if he could inflict this much damage to a person. "Lance… Lancelot!"

He reached out to try and help his brother, only to have his hand kicked away. Crimson eyes glared with hatred at equally colored eyes that were filled with terror. "Don't touch me…" Lancelot rasped. "Don't ever come near me again you FREAK!" Lancelot screamed at his brother.

Shadow was scared and shocked at his brother. Never had his brother acted so cold to him. Sure he had gotten mad at him, but never enough to where he wouldn't forgive him later. The snow around them started to react to Shadow's emotions. Frost spread from his feet to the rest of the room and found their way from the floor to the ceiling, cascading the room in an icy cavern. The temperature became colder, but neither paid any mind to it. But it increased the pain in Lancelot's hand and arm.

Finally the door was banged on. Once. Twice. Then it flew open, revealing two figures. One was a red hedgehog with light blue eyes. She wore a long white and light purple gown. The other figure was a black hedgehog with red eyes and wore a long black robe with gold linings. Both wore crowns on their heads, representing them to be the rulers. The queen, Ice Spark, immediately went to her older son. The king, Black Doom, glared at his younger son before turning his attention to his other son as he was being cradled by his wife. Black Doom came over to the pair and looked at the arm that was beginning to freeze, then he glared red daggers at the trembling Shadow. "I knew that we should've removed that damn curse when we had a chance." He hissed.

"It wasn't what we expected, Doom." Ice Spark told her husband. "I'm sure Shadow didn't mean it, right sweetie?" She spoke gently while holding her son in her arms.

Shadow wanted to say, "I really didn't mean to! He surprised me!" but instead he said, "I-I got the idea… of ambushing him with snowballs…" He would take any punishment. Whatever it was, he would have it. He deserved it. He deserved to be punished for hurting his brother.

"See Ice," Black Doom said. "he confessed." He turned to his wife who was staring at her youngest son. Her mouth agape and not wanting to believe that her child would harm another being in his entire life. "I know where we need to go."

"Help us! Please!" Ice Spark screamed at the surrounding area, praying for someone to answer. The royal family had rode their horses up to the mountains. Lancelot rode with his father while Shadow rode with his mother. As they stood in the dark mountainside, Shadow couldn't help but look at their surroundings. Rocks were stacked in circles and the clearing they stood in was surrounded by rock except the one way in that they took. Black Doom knew of witches that performed magic in the mountains. All they needed now was for them to show up. "Please!" The queen yelled again. "Please help us! We will give you anything!"

At that, a puff of green smoke arose that rose almost to the mountain tops. When it dissipated, a young brown squirrel stepped out. She had short red hair and had light blue eyes. She wore a long black dress that came off one of her shoulders and had long sleeves that covered almost all of her hands. She smiled and bowed. When she came back up she asked, "To what do I owe the honor of being in the presence of the royal family?"

"My sons." Black Doom said as he pushed held Lancelot in his arms and urged Shadow forward. By now the ice had spread up Lancelot's arm to where his shoulder was. "Can you help?"

"Of course." She lightly placed a hand on Lancelot's arm that made him draw in a breath through his clenched teeth. "Though I cannot unfreeze him, I can make it so it stops and he can move it." A small green light came from her hand then disappeared as quickly.

Once she removed her hand, the ice stopped their movements and Lancelot could feel the ice stop. He experimentally wiggled his little finger, then two, three, then he was gripping it into a fist. Though he could not actually feel anything in his left arm, he was relieved to have some control over it. He looked up at her with bewilderment and astonishment. "How did you-"

"I'm a witch silly." The squirrel smiled. "Now for the other one." She turned to Shadow who was trembling in place. She held her hands out to him and gently took his hands in hers. "Born with the power or cursed?" She asked softly. When Ice Spark was about to speak, she quickly said, "I'm asking the boy." She looked at him with gentleness in her blue eyes. "Born or cursed?" She asked quietly.

Shadow hesitated. Could he really trust this woman with this valuable piece of information on his life? "B-born." Shadow barely whispered.

The witch smiled sadly. "I thought as much." She stood to speak with the entire family. "I cannot remove his powers. They are a part of him. I take that away, then his entire being will be of a mishap. Someone who wasn't supposed to be alive. In other words… he will die without his powers."

The royals looked to each other. Shadow was the first to speak. "B-but… I don't want it. I don't want my powers anymore." He then ran over and fell in front of the witch. He grabbed the hem of her dress and pleaded, "Please remove it! I don't want it anymore! Just take it away!"

The women looked at the crying boy. There were no other options that could remove his powers without killing him. Except… "I may have a solution." Her voice made everyone look to her. She still stared at Shadow, but was not showing any emotion except sadness. "It will not remove your powers, but… it will have you control them, to where you could easily learn to not even use them when you feel like it and you could still have them." She gently rubbed Shadow's head and spoke quietly. "But it would be in a different kingdom. One that has children with special abilities go to learn and be themselves without hurting anyone. Would you like to do that little one?"

Shadow would have said, "No! I want to be rid of my powers! I don't want to control them!" but something in his mind thought against it. So he said, "When do I leave?"