"Luci?" A small, brunette toddler was climbing up onto his older brother's bed with tears in his soft, blue eyes. He was still dressed in his pajamas and had a small case of bedhead going on. It was still dark outside and the moon was up, meaning it was somewhere near the middle of the night. "Luci, wake up."
"Castiel, go back to sleep," his blonde haired sibling mumbled sleepily into his pillow. He swiped his hand towards his younger brother in an attempt to get him to go away.
Castiel frowned and crawled up on top of him. "I can't." He sat down on top of him and tried to pull away Lucifer's blanket. "I had a bad dream," he sniffled, wiping at his eyes. "and I can't fall asleep by myself after a bad dream. You know that."
"It's the middle of the night," Lucifer groaned. He snatched his blanket back from his brother and pulled it over head. When he talked again, it was muffled by the fabric. "Go wake up Mom and Dad or something. Leave me alone."
"Mama and Papa don't like being woken up so early."
"Neither do I!"
Castiel's lips curled into a pout. "But, I thought that we could build a snowman."
These words made the older boy move his blanket and grin up at his little brother. This was definitely a sign that Castiel won this fight.
The trip to ballroom was full giggles and "shhh"s. Once inside, they both closed the big doors together and a giggling Castiel exclaimed, "Do the magic! Do the magic!"
"Alright," Lucifer said, shushing him after the words. He then moved his hands in a circular fashion letting his powers flow from his fingertips. His brother gasped in awe as snowflakes danced between his palms and swirled into a snowball. After showing it off, Luci threw it into the air and it burst into flurries of snow that covered the whole room.
"Wow." Castiel looked around and held up his hands to catch the falling snowflakes that were drifting above him.
Lucifer smiled brightly as he watched the happiness his magic caused. "Watch this," he said, still grinning, and then stomped his foot down on the floor below them. Starting where the foot landed, the floor began to glaze over with ice.
Castiel began to slide over the slippery surface and giggled the whole while even though he didn't have the best of balance. When his feet almost slid from under him, Luci caught his waist and helped him move swiftly along the ice.
"Careful," he laughed as he pulled his little brother across the floor. "if you fell, Dad would never let me hear the end of it."
The spent almost a whole hour playing in the snow. They had snowball fights, wiggled through snow piles, and built a snowman who liked to say smart stuff. It was perfect and it was fun... at least until something happened.
They were both just finishing up with sliding down an icy snow slope, made by Luci and loved by Castiel, when the younger decided he'd like to jump from a short snow drift and yell, "Catch me!"
Which, Luci did, by sending a bundle of snowflakes to compact below Castiel. Seeing he was caught by a peak of snow, Castiel jumped again.
And Luci caught him.
Then the boy jumped.
And was caught.
Then he sped up, subconsciously.
And Luci struggled to keep up, "Castiel, slow down!" and didn't pay attention to his footing.
Castiel jumped one last time, just as Lucifer slid and landed on his back.
"Castiel!" Luci called out, reaching towards his falling brother. His fear quelled inside of him and spiked from his fingertips as a burst of ice. The icy gust made contact to Castiel's head. He landed in a snowbank, unconscious and adorning a spot of white in his brunette hair.
"Cas-" Lucifer wasn't able to make out the whole name as he stood to his feet and scrambled over to his brother. He pulled him into his arms and his eyesight became blurred with tears. "Mama! Pappa!" he cried out into the emptiness of the room. On the floors and along the walls, ice crackled and spiked. "It's okay, Castiel, I've got you," he mumbled to the younger boy as the queen and king burst through the doors.
"Lucifer, what have you done?" The king rushed towards the two boys, his wife following close behind him. "This is getting out of hand!"
The queen scooped her youngest son into her arms as Lucifer cried, "It was an accident, I'm sorry Castiel, so sorry."
The woman bit her lip and gave her eldest a sad look before she realised something terrible. "He's ice cold."
"...I know where we have to go."
The next time Castiel awoke, he hadn't remembered falling asleep, but he didn't have time to think about it. He was woken by servants moving the other bed in the room, his brother's bed, out of their bedroom and into the room across the hallway.
"What's going on?" he asked, confused and actually concerned. Three out of the four servants were shocked out of words and the other was too scared to answer. They were all saved by the queen, who strode into the room.
"Honey, don't you remember?" she said with a suspiciously sweet smile straining her cheeks as she sat down at the edge of Castiel's bed. "Your older brother, Lucifer, asked for his own room last night so," she motioned to the room that was being emptied of half of it's things. "that's what we're doing."
Castiel shook his head quickly, "No I don't remember. And I don't understand." His eyebrows were furrowed and his eyes were glazed in hurt. "Luci was okay with it yesterday..."
"Lucifer is eight years old now," she explained. She put her hand over her son's in a form of comfort. "He wants his own room, Castiel. You'd understand if you were his age."
"I don't want him to have his own room," he pouted at her.
She shook her head lightly, "I'm sorry, but that's not your decision." She then leans down and kisses his cheek. "How about we go get some breakfast okay, darling?"
"Okay," Castiel sighed. He moved to get ready for the day.
"I'll meet you in the dining hall when you're ready."
"Yes, Mom."
Months passed and Lucifer stayed out of the sight of Castiel. The youngest boy had also realised his parents had closed the gates to the castle at some point in these months. Soon enough winter came and brought chilly weather. When Castiel saw that the first snow had fallen over the kingdom, he couldn't help but run up to his brother's door and knock excitedly.
"Luci!" He called to his brother on the other side of the door. "It snowed outside. Do you want to build a snowman with me? We never see eachother anymore and I do miss playing." Honestly, he really did miss his older brother. "Please Luci? It doesn't have to be a snowman. We could build a snow fort or a-"
"Go away, Castiel." Was the only response Lucifer gave.
Castiel stopped short and looked down, disappointed. "Okay, bye," he said softly as he turned and walked back to his own room.
More time passed, more knocking and pestering ensued, and somehow Castiel was suddenly a whopping nine years old and his brother was twelve.
Castiel had woken up that morning convinced that today was the day. The day he'd get his brother to come out of his locked up room. He was sure of it. And imagine how much fun that would be! How long has it been since they played last? Three years? Four? Well today he was gonna get him to come out.
When he ran up to the door, he couldn't stop a smile from spreading on his face as he knocked. "Do you want to build a snowman, Lucifer? Or maybe we could ride our bike around the hall. It would be nice if we could play again." It was like he was trying to plead his case to a court. "The castle is rather empty and boring and there's nobody here. Ever. I'm tired of watching the hours go by."
There was no response. This was very normal by now.
Castiel sighed sadly. "I guess I will just... go play by myself." And with that, he trudged away so he continue to explore the rooms he had discovered dozens of times before.
On the other side of the door Castiel had left behind, Lucifer was sitting on his bed with his gloved hands to his ears. It was all he could do to not walk over and call Castiel back to tell him that he wanted to play. He knew he wasn't allowed(what if he hurt his brother?), but he wanted to. He wanted to see his brother smile like he used and he wanted to use his powers to cheer him up.
Then he thought about that night. The night where he hit his sibling with ice and made him freeze over. Before he knew it, there was lines of ice covering his bed and he was mumbling what his father always told him. "Conceal it, don't feel it, don't let it show. Conceal it, feel it, don't let it show."
It never actually worked, though. If anything, it made it worse.
Six years passed. Castiel grew tired of visiting his brother and getting no results. Lucifer grew even more terrified of what he could do. Not even their parents could avoid Luci's shutting out. He didn't want to bring them any harm.
Castiel walked into his parents bedroom and gave them both a goodbye hug. "I will see you in two weeks," he said in the happiest tone he could muster.
"And we will miss you every moment of it, darling," the queen cooed at him, grabbing his face and kissing his forehead. "Don't get any older while we're gone, okay? Promise me you wont."
"Mother," he moaned pulling himself away from her in an attempt to gain back his pride. "I am fifteen now, you don't need to baby me any longer."
She only laughed at him and went back to packing. The king took her place in front of their son. "Don't get into trouble while we're gone, alright?" he said as he ruffled his hair. Castiel didn't notice that his fingers linger very slightly when they were around the white spot in the dark brown.
"I won't, I promise."
Lucifer waited until his parents were on the verge of leaving the castle to say bye. He met them at the end of the main steps and bowed in their direction. He was too afraid to give them a hug, but he did hopelessly ask, "Are you sure you have to go?"
"You'll be fine, Luci," the king said, and attempted to ruffle his hair like he had done to his younger son, but the prince ducked away.
"But what if I'm not?" was his counter. His eyes were wide with vulnerability. "What if I do hurt someone?"
"You won't," his father said in return. "Just remember, conceal it-"
"-don't feel it, don't let it show," Lucifer finished for him with a sigh. His eyes glanced down at the white gloves on his hands. "I know."
They left shortly after the conversation. They went onto a ship and were off to a different country, promising to be back before anyone could miss them.
They had lied.
While they were at sea, there was terrible storm. It made the waves rise to terrifying heights and their ship was tipped over and washed into the sea.
The kingdom was devastated. What made it even worse was that only one of the princes actually showed up to the funeral. And it was the one that wasn't even the heir, Castiel.
After the funeral, Castiel walked up to his brother's room door. He was still draped in black funeral wear and his emotions were running wild.
He knocked for the first time in years, cleared his throat, and said, "Lucifer... please, I know you're in there. Open the door for me just this once. Everyone has been asking why you didn't go to the..." he trailed off, not wanting to finish it. He leaned against the door and slid onto the floor.. "and they are telling me to have courage, but it's hard. It's just you and me, now, so please let me in. We only have each other. I need you." By the end of it, there was tears rolling down his cheeks.
Again, he got no response, but could hear soft sobbing noises coming from the other side.
Castiel was left with nothing. His parents were gone. The gates, well they were still closed, and Lucifer was still shutting him out. The only people he had left were the servants and they were never much fun. With no one to talk to, Castiel decided to bury himself in books and go back to re-exploring the castle.
It was never any fun.
