Once upon a time, in a large kingdom called The Americas, lived a king, a queen, and their two princes. The first son had been born with the power of ice. His name was Matthew. What the king and queen did not know about Matthew was that his power would grow much stronger each day, and could be very dangerous had he not controlled it. A year or so after Matthew's birth came Alfred. Alfred had not been born with any powers at all, but was very curious and had always loved to bother his brother.
One night, Alfred couldn't sleep. And if Alfred couldn't sleep, neither could Matthew. He leapt from his bed with a grin on his face as he began to tiptoe over to his brother. Crawling into his bed, he jumped on Matthew's side and began to shake him vigorously, making Matthew smile slightly. He hadn't been asleep anyway.
"Mattie! Wake up! Wake up!" Alfred cried
"Alfie, go back to sleeep." Came Matthew's reply as he rolled onto his other side.
"But I can't!" Alfred whined as he lay down onto his brother. He then proclaimed in a very overly dramatic voice "The sky's awake, so I'm awake, so we have to play!"
Giggling, Matthew pushed the younger off him. "Go play by yourself!"
Alfred huffed as he fell onto his bottom. He felt defeated, that is until, he had an idea.
With a small gasp he crawled back into the elder's bed. Grinning widely, he opened one of his eyes with his fingers.
"You wanna build a snowman~?"
Matthew opened both of his eyes and grinned. There was no snow outside, for it was spring, but he knew exactly what Alfred was referring to.
The two princes both sprinted down the hall, one of them giggling his head off, the other shushing him to be quiet. They ran until they came to the grand ballroom.
"Do the magic!" Alfred giggled with glee. "Do the magic!"
Matthew smiled. "Okay, stay back."
Alfred nodded and took a few steps back. He bounced with excitement.
Matthew then closed his eyes and began to concentrate. He swirled his hands around, creating blue swirls with small snowflakes around them. He swirled them around for a few more seconds before throwing both of his hands into the air, making the blue swirls and snowflakes explode into the sky and rain down as a light snow.
At that point, Alfred couldn't contain his squeals of joy. He bounced around the room with his hands in the air, catching the snowflakes and shouting at the top of his lungs. This made Matthew smile wide. He loved making it snow inside because it always made Alfred happy, and when Alfred was happy Matthew was happy.
As Alfred had wanted, the two made a 'snowprince' that Matthew had very happily named Feliciano.
"Hi!" Matthew said as he hid behind the snowman and waved its arms at Alfred. "My name is Feliciano, and I like warm hugs!"
Alfred grinned and ran into the snowman, giving him the biggest, warmest hug he could manage without crumbling it. "I love you Feliciano!"
All was fun in that ballroom that night. They went sledding, and ice-skating, and danced in the snow. But something very unexpected happened that night that Matthew would never forget.
"Catch me, Mattie!" Alfred shrieked as he jumped onto a small mound of snow.
He jumped into the air and Matthew smiled. He flicked his fingers towards where Alfred was and caught him with another snow mount. "Gotcha!"
Alfred continued, jumping from one invisible mount of snow to the next with Matthew catching him each time; both were giggling. Alfred soon began to jump too fast for Matthew to safely catch him, which made him worry.
"Alfred, slow down!" He cried, but was ignored.
Matthew flicked his fingers at Alfred again, but lost his balance and slipped. He tried once more, but missed and shot a bolt of frost at his beloved brother's forehead instead.
He shrieked with fright as his brother collapsed to the snow lifelessly. He ran to him, panicking, and as he did the entire ballroom began to cover with frost. Once Matthew had reached his brother he knelt down next to him and held him in his lap. His blonde hair that always stuck out of his head streaked white now. Matthew's bottom lip curled up as he began to cry.
"Mama! Papa!" he cried, small tears shedding down his cheeks.
Moments later, the door was thrown open. There in the giant doorway stood the king and queen.
The queen gasped at the sight but the king merely furrowed his eyebrows. He knew this was all Matthew's doing.
"Matthew, what have you done?" he asked in a stern tone.
Matthew shrunk at his father's voice; he held Alfred's body tight. "I... I didn't mean to..."
The queen scooped up her youngest son and gasped again. "He's ice cold!"
Again, the king furrowed his eyebrows and nodded. "I know what we have to do."
They fled on horseback into a forest far outside of The Americas. It didn't take very long, but all three worried for their poor Alfred. They soon reached their destination, a place Matthew did not know what to call. It looked like a large cove, with more rocks with moss on them than he could count.
"Help, please!" Cried the king to the air. "It's... My son."
All of the rocks began to roll, which made Matthew feel very scared. He clung to his mother's hand as tight as he could. A rock, much bigger than the others, rolled right in front of Matthew and swirled around. He gasped at the sight. It wasn't a rock at all! None of them were rocks!
"Trolls?" a voice asked in a whisper.
Matthew looked around but couldn't find whom the voice belonged to. He shrugged. It didn't matter that much anyway.
The biggest troll stared at Alfred, whom lay in the king's arms. It stroked his head.
"Born with the power, or cursed?" He asked, not taking his eyes off the unconscious prince
The king stammered, not knowing what he was referring to.
"Matthew." He simply said.
"M-Me?" Matthew looked down. "Oh... B-Born." He replied shyly.
Nodding, the king added "And they're getting stronger everyday."
The troll stroked Alfred's head a few more times before closing his eyes. He swirled his hands around, creating a blue hue.
"I suggest we remove all magic. Even memories of magic." He told the royal family.
He threw the blue swirls into the air above Alfred's head, which then revealed several pictures.
"Don't worry, I'll still leave the fun."
Matthew frowned as he saw all the pictures of him and Alfred playing in the snow in the giant ballroom be replaced with them playing outside. Those were Matthew's favorite memories.
"Alfred won't know I have powers?" he asked the troll.
The troll shook his head.
"It's for the best." The king said
The troll balled the pictures into his hands again and transferred them back into Alfred's mind, making him smile.
After the transformation, the big troll looked at Matthew.
"He will be okay. Just be glad it wasn't his heart. The heart isn't so easily changed, but the head... It can be persuaded."
The family sighed with relief and smiled down at Alfred as he now slept happily.
"Matthew, you must learn to control your power." The troll told him as he began to swirl his hands around again.
He threw his hands into the air and the blue hues covered the sky, making pictures. Matthew spotted a blue silhouette that looked like him and gazed up in awe. The silhouette made blue snowflakes and swirls as a blue crowd watched and made sounds of awe.
"Though there is beauty in your magic," The troll told Matthew.
Suddenly, a red snowflake covered Matthew's silhouette. It made a sound that sounded like a clash of thunder, which made Matthew gasp. The snowflake swirled in a circle. Matthew's silhouette soon became less cheerful, but distressed, and the people were not making sounds of awe, but sounds of fright. The silhouette screamed.
"There is also great danger. Fear will be your enemy, Matthew. If you do not control your power-"
"No!" The king shouted.
Before Matthew could blink, the pictures had been blown away. He shrunk away again and ran into his mother's arms in fright.
"We won't let that happen." He said more calmly, holding his queen and two princes tight. He turned his attention down to the troll. "We will protect him. He'll learn to control his power, I'm sure." He looked down at Matthew for a brief moment before turning to the troll again.
"Until then, we'll lock the gates. We'll reduce the staff. We will limit his contact with people and keep his powers hidden from everyone... including Alfred."
The troll opened his mouth to warn them about that idea, but it was already too late. The king nodded, mumbled a 'Thank you' and took his leave.
Alfred awakened to a brilliant winter morning one day. After getting dressed, he skipped over to his bedroom window. Gasping, he grinned widely with big eyes full of excitement. Snow! And tons of it!
"I wonder if Mattie wants to go and play in it..." He asked aloud. "I bet he does! He loves the snow!"
Giggling, the happy blonde prince sprinted out of the door and down the hall. He stopped at a large door with blue snowflakes painted on it. This was Matthew's room, or as Alfred called it, his tomb. He knocked his usual knock on the door before singing cheerfully.
"Oh Mattie~?" He grinned. "There's snow outside, do you wanna build a snowman with me?"
There was no answer.
He huffed. "C'mon, I never see you anymore. Come. Out. And. Play~!"
Again, there wasn't an answer. He sighed.
"I wish you would tell me why you like to stay inside all day. Isn't it boring?" Alfred began rambling now. "I mean, I never ever see you come out. Don't you have to use the bathroom every now and then? Is there a toilet in there or something? Because you're in there all. The. Time."
"Alfred, go away." Matthew's muffled voice finally said.
Frowning, Alfred sighed. "Okay, bye..."
Over the years, Alfred tried again and again to talk with his brother, but each time he tried he failed. Matthew's powers were growing stronger and he definitely didn't want to hurt Alfred again. He couldn't live with himself if he did. So, he never responded to Alfred's attempts. This is to protect him he would think as he heard him at the door.
The king and queen both tried to help Matthew control his magic, but each time he would panic or get frustrated, frost covered the room. Matthew even received a pair of gloves to help him wield his magic better. They were snug and white and very warm; Matthew liked them very much.
"They will help you control it." The king said with a smile as he helped Matthew put them on. "See? It's warm isn't it?"
Matthew smiled and nodded. "Y-Yeah..."
He held Matthew's hand in the palm of both of his. "Conceal it,"
"Don't feel it," replied Matthew.
"Don't let it show." They both said with smiles and nods.
One day, the king and queen had to go on a journey to a nearby kingdom by ship. They were to stay for two weeks. At the time, Matthew was eighteen and Alfred was fifteen.
"See you guys in two weeks!" Alfred grinned as he pulled both of his parents into a tight hug. "I'm really going to miss you two. Besides Joan of Arc and Blue Boy, you two are the only ones that really kept me company!"
His mother chuckled. "Alfred, we're only leaving for two weeks. You're acting as if it's forever."
"Two weeks is forever, mother!" He whined.
The king laughed and ruffled his hair. He gave his forehead a light kiss. "We'll be back before you know it, okay?"
"Yes, father." Alfred smiled and hugged his parents again.
Downstairs, they said their goodbyes to Matthew.
"D-Do you have to go...?" His voice cracked slightly and he didn't look at them, but the floor.
The king and queen smiled at each other before smiling at Matthew.
"You'll be fine, Matthew." His mother said.
"Take care of the castle when we're gone."
Smiling, Matthew nodded. "Yes, father. I will."
Months after the king and queen had left, word spread that their ship had been wrecked. The prince, and later, future king were devastated, yet only the prince attended the funeral. Alfred couldn't believe that his own brother wouldn't attend their parents' funeral. Though he was outraged, he couldn't help but mourn. The sea had swallowed the two closest people in most of his life.
During the funeral, the rain had been pouring very hard. Many townspeople came, as did Alfred. Matthew however stayed inside the castle. He was afraid he would freeze something and reveal his powers.
"Due to my brother's absence, I shall speak on his behalf." Alfred said to the crowd, his voice cracking. "Our father and mother, the king and queen of The Americas..." He swallowed hard. "They were both such good people, it's a shame that something like this had happened so suddenly..."
He really didn't know what to say. Only his father and mother would speak to the public, Alfred didn't know what to do.
"I..." He frowned and bowed his head. Tears formed in his eyes and fell down his cheeks. "L-Let us have a moment of silence, for the king and queen of The Americas."
A moment of silence came with depressed bowed heads and had gone by with sad expressions. Alfred wiped his tears off on his sleeve and looked out into the crowd again. Everyone looked as mournful as Alfred felt. He adjusted his glasses and sniffled.
"T-Thank you all for coming..." He said with a small smile.
Alfred scurried down the dark hall of the castle. His grief was no match for the slight rage he felt. Matthew hadn't even come to their parents' funeral! Someone needed to knock at least a little sense into him!
But as he stood in front of that white door with blue snowflakes painted on it, he didn't know what to do nor say. He frowned, feeling his grief smother him and replace his anger. He raised a shaky hand up to the door and knocked gently.
"Mattie..?" He croaked.
Matthew had been sitting on the floor, leaning against the door and staring up at the ceiling. Tears stained his cheeks and the entire room had been covered with frost and ice. He heard his brother's voice and immediately wanted to crawl into a ball and die.
"Please talk to me, Matt. I know you're in there..." Alfred pressed his forehead against the door and closed his eyes. "Everyone's been asking about you... They're always asking about you... They're worried... They told me to have courage, and trust me, I'm trying to..." His voice cracked as a small sob escaped his lips. "I-It's just you and me, Matthew. Just let me in... Please. I-I don't know if I can do this alone..."
He turned and slid down the door. He then pulled his legs to his chest. Again, he let out another sob.
"D-o you wanna.. B-Build a snowman...?"
Matthew closed his eyes as more tears fell down his cheeks. He pulled his legs to his chest and sobbed into his knees.
Unsurprisingly, no response came from the door, but Alfred remained there and sobbed into his knees as well. He felt so alone. He wondered if he would ever see anyone other than the pictures on the walls and the servants ever again.