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Yuuri was ten years old when he found his magic. Of course, there always were some magic splashes and accidental spells casted by the boy. That happened to all wizards and witches in their childhood after all. But every magically capable person sooner or later found something that they could do better than anything else, specialization, their own way of making magic.
The day when that happened to Yuuri was nothing special at the beginning. Okay, probably it was a little bit more special than any previous day. Because of a late spring Yuuri, Mari and their father were visiting the capital to replenish their stocks while their mother stayed to watch over their family inn. Usually at that time of a year they just brought everything at the first spring fair at the nearest town, but that year rivers were still covered with ice, and trading ships couldn't reach further regions of the country, so like a lot of neighbour villagers Katsuki's family had to make a shopping trip to a big city.
It was Yuuri's first time in the capital. The boy never was so far away from a small and quiet village where he lived. The moment their family crossed capital's gates the boy was overwhelmed with sounds, smells, colours and variety of people around. His head was a little bit dizzy, there were so much new things at every corner of every street. Yuuri was so afraid to miss something interesting or important, or just to get lost.
Of course, Mari wasn't going to ignore the spellbound face of her little brother. At first her teasing was almost harmless, but after few more jokes Yuuri found himself struggling not to cry. He couldn't let Mari enjoy her success. He needed to hide before he burst into tears. That was why Yuuri run away.
It was hard to notice where he was going when his eyes were clouded with tears. So the boy tried to take turns only using his body memory. If he was lucky he could get to their cart and wait for his family there. But of course the luck wasn't an option that day. When Yuuri finally felt capable to look around he was stunned. He was nowhere near the tavern where they left their cart and horse. The boy was standing in front of the most gorgeous gate he had seen in his life. The gate was made of a black metal and was decorated with gold flowers. Behind gate was an enormous, beautiful garden, white from snow, and somewhere at the horizon Yuuri could see a big building, looking more like a palace than a house. The boy had absolutely no idea where he was.
A panic rose in Yuuri's body. He was lost, he was in an unfamiliar city, and even if the father and Mari were looking for him, they certainly wouldn't think to search for him anywhere near such noble area. He felt how a cold was creeping in his body. It was hard to breath, every gulp of air came harder and harder in his lungs. Yuuri tried to distract himself, to stop those nauseating waves of fear, but felt like he was drowning in them. The need to curl into a ball and to disappear became almost unbearable.
Suddenly a quiet melody broke through boy’s panic. It was slow, soft and reminded Yuuri of those mornings at home when he sat on the roof of their inn and watched rising sun. The boy felt how air was slowly filling his body again, how a painful knot in his chest became loser with every note, until it was untied. Finally Yuuri could move. The boy rose his head looking around again, but this time he didn’t try to understand where he was. Yuuri just wanted to find a source of the music that brought him back to sanity.
As the boy expected the melody was coming from the garden. Yuuri cautiously took a look through fence bars and lost his breath again. He doubted that even the most beautiful song could bring it back this time because Yuuri certainly was dead, or unconscious, or teleported to another dimension. It was the only explanation of the existence of that ethereal creature.
Only now the boy saw that there was a pond in the middle of the garden. It had the perfect oval form, borders of the pond were surrounded with polished stones, and there were several bushes and a few sculptures around the water. All those decorations probably made the pond even prettier in summers. But now the water was frozen, and all mentioned adornments weren't the most important part of pond's beauty. A fair, almost white as snow, shining creature glided on the frozen surface. Its skin was so pale, clothes – white and shining, and long silver hair flew with every move and turn of the creature. Yuuri was captivated. He had no doubts that he was watching a dance of a winter fairy, and couldn't feel any more blessed about it.
“Beautiful,” he whispered to himself, afraid to scare away the magical creature.
The boy wasn't sure how long he spent near that gate, staring at the fairy. But suddenly the enthralling creature stopped its dance. It became very still for a several seconds, like it was listening to something. And then the fairy did something unknown near its feet and ran away deeper into the garden.
Of course, Yuuri was disappointed. But at the same time he felt like he was buzzing with a strange energy. It was overwhelming. It demanded the boy to do something. It turned off all other Yuuri's feelings, and was so powerful that the boy was worried that he could explode. He needed to get home. Right now.
Concentrated on that new sensation Yuuri didn't notice how he found a way back to his family cart and his worried family. That energy in Yuuri still buzzed all way back home, still reminded about itself even when the boy closed eyes to take a short nap during the ride in the cart. So when Yuuri finally arrived back to their family inn, he moved almost guided by instincts.
“Yuuri, are you okay?” Hiroko Katsuki, his mother, followed her son to the kitchen, where the boy rushed without even a pause to hug his mum or greet their old family friend Minako Okukawa.
“I’m sorry, mum, I just need…” Yuuri tried to explain, rummaging through one of drawers of the kitchen table. He didn’t know what exactly he was looking for, but apparently his body didn’t need the help of his mind right now.
Yuuri took out a big knife from a drawer and the biggest empty pot from a cupboard near a stove. He saw that his mum made a worried move his direction, but Minako silently stopped her.
“Don’t distract him,” Yuuri’s brains registered Minako’s quiet voice when she turned to other members of his family, who finally had gotten to the kitchen, too.
But even those little observation didn’t make his body pause and Yuuri continued his hunt for strangest things. The boy took some garlic and herbs from different shelves of the kitchen, then ran to one of inn’s cabinets and came back with several feathers from one of guest’s pillows. All those ingredients, water, a spoon of sugar, and scoop of snow from a garden outside the inn finished in Yuuri’s pot. He took the knife in his hand and started to slowly stir strange mix. Boy’s fingers still felt like there was energy pulsing in them. The feeling was so irresistible that at some point Yuuri understood that he couldn’t hold it back anymore. He had to let it go whatever it meant. So the boy relaxed, closed his eyes and whispered, “Go”.
A few seconds there was nothing. Yuuri carefully opened one eye. Nothing had changed. The mixture still followed the momentum of the last knife move, boy’s family still eyed his actions from a distance, and Yuuri still didn’t know what was going on. He looked with both eyes at the strange concoction, willing it to do something, anything. Suddenly with a quiet puff the whirlwind of snowflakes rose form a pot and flew up to the ceiling. With every second more and more snow soar up from the pot. Snowflakes sparkled and danced around Yuuri, reminding him about the dancing fairy, he saw today. He turned his palm up and let one tiny snowflake land on it.
“Wow,” the boy whispered, amazed. It was so pretty.
“How beautiful,” he heard his mother words.
He looked at the woman, slightly worried, what his mum thought about him covering her kitchen with snow. A fond smile adored Hiroko’s lips when she met Yuuri’s gaze.
“You did wonderful, Yuuri,” she promised, and the boy beamed at her.
“Well done, son,” Yuuri’s father joined the boy near the pot, watching whirling snowflakes above his head with a smile.
Another family members also came closer to the pot.
“So that is what it all was about,” Mari said, trying to look unimpressed, but Yuuri could see joyful twinkle in her eyes. She saved her composure a little bit more, but when one of snowflakes landed on the tip of boy’s nose, Mari couldn’t hold it anymore. With a chuckle she gently ruffled Yuuri’s hair. “Little bro finally found his magic. Congratulations,” the girl offered her fist, and Yuuri bumped it with his own.
“Thanks,” he laughed.
The boy turned to the last member of his family, because no one of Katsuki household never considered Minako anything less than a part of them. The woman looked thoughtful, but the moment their eyes met she smiled at Yuuri just like everyone else.
“Congratulations, kid,” Minako said. “Prepare, tomorrow we start your training for the Magic Academy.”
~❄~
Almost two years later Yuuri still couldn't believe that he was a student of the Magic Academy. He was nervous to leave the school for a break at the Winter Holiday, dreading to find out that while he was absent, the school recognized their mistake, and Yuuri was expelled. But the boy hadn't seen his family for a several months, and he was really missing all of them. Longing to see his family and the promise of his parents to take him and Mari to the capital for the celebration of the Winter Holiday had determined the choice of the young wizard. Yuuri couldn't miss this opportunity. Not when he waited for it for so long.
The capital was nothing like Yuuri remembered from his previous visit. Yes, this time it wasn't covered with snow because of the unexpectedly warm end of December, but it wasn't the only difference. The town was filled with the spirit of the Winter Holiday. Every street was adorned with decorations, specially enchanted by court wizards: glittering balls, floating lanterns, small singing bells, and tinsels, changing colours every few seconds. Here and there street bands played popular holiday melodies. At some streets there even were posters with portraits of royal family members and their written wishes of happiness to citizens. Yuuri heard that the one with the crown prince also had a dog on it. And not just any dog, but a poodle. The boy was tempted to look for it, but he was afraid to lose the time he needed so much to achieve his goal.
This time Yuuri was prepared. The boy was old and experienced enough to wonder down capital's streets by himself. He was twelve years old after all! He lived all by himself in the Magic Academy! So after he got a permission from his parents, he went for a little walk.
The boy wanted to find that palace with the fairy in its garden again. And he had a plan how to do that.
Yuuri fished out from his pocket a magical compass that he borrowed from one of his classmates in the Magic Academy. The owner of the compass promised that said magic tool would show him a road to any place he needed. All he had to do was to think about that place as intensely as he was capable. So the young wizard took out the tool and tried to remember the garden where he saw the fairy. Suddenly the compass became a little bit warmer and the boy felt something like a tug from it. If Yuuri didn't imagine it he needed to turn to the right.
The garden looked almost like it was two years ago. Yuuri recognized the same trees, only now they weren't covered with snow. The pond didn't changed much, too, but the boy couldn't ignore the lack of ice on it. That was the first time that the young wizard started to worry if the winter fairy would show itself this time at all. But Yuuri didn't let himself start to panic. The fairy certainly was somewhere in the garden, and he could lure her to appear. The young wizard was prepared. He had sugar, and non-withering flower, and a gemstone – everything fairies loved. He also prepared a special gift. He just needed to get into the garden.
The boy walked along the fence, trying to find a place where he could climb over it. Now after studying in the Magic Academy for a several years he could feel a magic which was protecting a perimeter of the garden. Did he had a chance to pass through it? Probably not if he wasn’t invited in by somebody from the palace or didn’t find a weak spot in that protection.
Yuuri's called out all his willpower. He wasn’t going to give up so easily. He needed to find that fairy, and today was his only chance.
The boy was so wrapped in his own thoughts that he didn't notice how he crossed a corner of the fence. Sudden call startled him, and the young wizard froze for a second, looking around.
This part of the street was much emptier than a square before the garden. All houses were still much fancier than any house in Yuuri's village and the pavements made of bricks looked so expensive that the young boy still wasn't sure if he was allowed to walk here. The only thing that stood out was a cart near a gate leading to the garden. It was a solid, but very simple vehicle, not very different from all those carts that Yuuri saw passing by his family inn. And its owner, a large, bulky man with bright red hair and bushy beard waved at Yuuri with unexpected enthusiasm.
“Oi! Oi, boy!” man’s booming voice sounded too loud in a quiet street. The cart owner looked too strong and dangerous, but the young wizard wasn’t scared. The man was wearing hunters outfit - simple wool pants and fur coat with leather clasps -, and even most grumpy and unpleasant hunters never harmed kids.
The boy took a few hesitant steps closer. If he wasn’t scared that didn’t mean that he wanted to get involved in man’s business when he still hadn’t reached his goal.
“Do you want to get some coins?” Yuuri winced from how loud man’s voice was. “There is only one basket in my cart left and those workers of the palace’s kitchen are so slow. Can you bring it inside instead of them?” The man looked at the guard near the gate. “He can do it, right?”
The astonished boy looked at the said basket with fowl in the cart, at the red-haired man, at the nodding guard, at the gate for a palace staff in the fence he so desperately wanted to get through. He couldn’t believe his luck. But he wasn’t going to doubt it. With an enthusiastic nod he grabbed the basket and hurried to the entrance.
“Oi, wait!” he heard the voice of the cart owner again, and had to stop himself from fastening his speed. He shouldn’t look suspicious. Not in front of the guard, standing near the so desirable door.
With pounding heart he turned back to the red-haired man. Of course, his luck couldn’t last so long.
“You forgot the money. I won’t wait till you come back.” The man put two coins into Yuuri’s palm. “Turn to the left to get to the kitchen.”
Still not believing in his luck, the young wizard strengthened his grip on the basket and as unsuspiciously as it was possible darted to the gate through the fence.
~❄~
It was easy to find a kitchen, put there the basket and leave it almost unnoticed. It was much scarier to get to the garden. Yuuri could feel how his heart halted every time one of the guards of the garden's entrance moved. Fortunately both guarding men were so wrapped up in their conversation about plans for their next day off that they didn't notice small dark-haired boy, disappearing in the garden.
After that Yuuri reached the pond very fast. He still couldn't believe that he broke in the guarded garden which apparently belonged to someone mighty and noble. The boy shuddered from the thought about consequences he would face if he got caught. But he needed to find that fairy. The magic creature changed his life and he could show his gratitude only one way. The young wizard balled his fists and willed himself to concentrate on the main task – to lure the fairy out.
Yuuri reached inside the inner pocket of his coat and pulled out a vial with a liquid substance with intensely cerulean colour. It took him three months and a lot of experimenting to make this potion and to do it unnoticed by Academy's teachers. The boy still worried if the potion was going to work. Anything could happen. Yuuri could have made it wrong, or he could have miscalculated the time needed for the liquid to affect a pond so big, or potion’s effect could last just a few seconds... He stopped himself after the first hitch in his breath. He didn't need to panic right now. If the potion didn't work he just had to go away and hope for another opportunity to meet the winter fairy.
Yuuri waited till his breath became even again. Then he uncorked the vial with the potion and slowly poured five drops into pond's water. Cold air rose from its surface. Now he needed to wait just a few more minutes, and then…
“What are you doing here?” the boy suddenly heard.
Yuuri stilled. Somebody was right behind his back. He was so concentrated on the potion that he stopped to pay attention to his surrounding, and missed their steps. The young wizard made himself to turn around, and froze again. In front of him was the fairy, and the potion even didn't finish to react with the water in the pond. Boy's gaze met the very pissed off ocean blue eyes of the fairy. Yuuri nervously hiccuped. The fairy more and more looked like a human, and it was worrying the young wizard more with every passing second. Yuuri wanted to run, to hide, but before he could even move, something big, brown and fluffy tackled him to the ground.
“Makkachin, no!” he heard a horrified voice of the fairy.
The young wizard looked at the creature, who put its paws on his chest, and beamed. It was a dog! Even better, it was a poodle! The large, fluffy, excited poodle with the smartest eyes, Yuuri had ever seen in dogs, friendly stared at the young wizard.
“H-hi,” the boy breathed out and patted furry head of the animal.
Dog's tongue left a slobbery wet line on Yuuri's cheek as an answering greeting.
“Makka, no!” the boy heard another more desperate fairy's exclamation, and the young wizard wasn't pinned to the earth by the friendly dog anymore.
Yuuri looked up at the fairy or rather the person who he called a fairy in his mind for two years. The boy in front of him was older than the young wizard. He was obviously a teenager. He was tall, slim and full of grace. And except that he was the most handsome boy, Yuuri had ever seen, the young wizard couldn't feel any magic from him.
“Are you okay?” The teen stretched out a hand. Yuuri took a warm palm in his own and used the teen's strength to stand up. He couldn't find his voice to answer the question, feeling a little bit hypnotized by a breathtaking beauty of the person in front of him.
“Did Makka hurt you?” the worry in the teen's voice pulled the younger boy out of his trance.
“I-... No!” the young wizard winced, because of surprise his answer was a bit more forceful than he planned. How that sweetest dog could hurt anyone? He hurried to assure her owner about it. “She is just so friendly.”
“Yes, she is,” the fairy-like person smiles at him with relieved smile, and Yuuri couldn't hold back his own wide grin.
They fell in a silence, watching as the poodle happily sniffed earth below their feet. It was nice just to stand there with a person, Yuuri was thinking about for almost two years. It was also pretty scary at the same time.
The young wizard clenched his hands in attempt to stop their nervous shaking, while he was looking for the right words to say. With surprise the boy found out that he still was holding the vial with the potion. The feeling of firm surface of the vial was like a cold shower. He broke in stranger’s garden to use his magic potion on their pond, and now he was trying to do what? To have a polite conversation with the owner of that garden? The shaking oh his hands became worse. He should get out from here. He should say goodbye and go as soon as possible, before the teen next to him realized what was happening.
Yuuri took a step back from the pond, wondering if that was a good moment to turn around and run, when the dog owner looked at him with curiosity shimmering in beautiful blue eyes.
“My name is Victor. What is your? What are you doing in the palace?” teen’s voice still sounded friendly, but that didn’t mean that he wouldn’t call guards at the next moment.
“I’m… My…” Yuuri stammered. He couldn’t decide if it wasn’t dangerous to introduce himself. Probably he should make up a name, but his startled mind couldn’t come up with any idea. Poodle’s sneeze interrupted his panicking thoughts.
“What’s up, Makka?” the fairy-like teen looked at the dog.
The young wizard could see how Victor’s eyes suddenly widened and didn’t need to check, to know what the teen saw. Yuuri followed the gaze of the garden owner anyway.
White smoke was rising from the pond. The young wizard had no doubt what would happen in the next few minutes. Pond’s water surface was turning into ice. Perfect, smooth, shining. His potion was working! Yuuri suppressed his internal happy scream. It wasn’t time to celebrate. It was his clue to leave.
The boy heard a quiet gasp of Victor and a worried whine of his poodle. Yuuri really needed to go before the teen called anybody. The young wizard turned away, considering how he could reach the gate out of the palace territory faster. The heaviness of potion’s vial made him stop. Yuuri needed to do something else first. He turned back to the pond, back to the teen and the dog, still looking at changing water, and came closer to them.
“It’s for you,” he handed the vial to Victor, but the teen didn’t move to take it. “You like skating, right?”
The young wizard still remembered that heart-shaped smile of “the fairy”, he couldn’t stop thinking about for two years. Victor looked so happy, gliding on ice.
“I-,” No, it wasn’t important why Yuuri did it. He pressed the vial to the teen’s hands again. “Five drops in this pond, and it will be covered with the most solid and smooth ice as it is possible for eight hours,” the young wizard explained, watching as Victor tentatively took the bottle.
He started to run the moment the potion was save in teen’s hands.
~❄~
Yuuri wasn’t sure how he got away from the palace. Probably Victor didn’t send guards after him or it took more time to find somebody to chase some random young wizard. Anyway the boy stopped to run when he reached nearest crowded place and tried just to become a part of walking pedestrians.
He still couldn’t believe what he did today. He broke in a guarded garden, used his magic on another person’s property and ran away. Yes, his magic worked and the owner of the pond probably didn’t mind - although he still didn’t know the opinion of Victor’s parents about that matter even if the teen himself probably might like frozen pond better -, but even then it was dangerous, it was wrong, and Yuuri couldn’t believe that he wasn’t caught.
The young wizard looked around trying to find another prove that his actions weren’t safe and right. And yes, just what he needed! The prove was right in front of his eyes, at the wall few feet away from him. Yuuri looked at one of this year congratulation banners from royal family. He could recognize that beautiful face, entrancing silver hair, and unique eyes anywhere. Also it was hard not to identify sweet Makka in a fluffy brown poodle the crown prince was hugging at the portrait. There were no doubt that the person he met today wasn’t a fairy, but it wasn’t an ordinary human being as well. He should be terrified. His heart already pounded much faster than usually. But surprisingly it wasn’t out of fear. Quite opposite the knowledge that he intruded in the palace garden almost unnoticed and presented the crown prince his handmade potion made the young wizard feel amazing and powerful. Yuuri knew what he needed to do. He would become the most famous wizard in the country and then he would meet the crown prince again. Perhaps he would be even brave enough to ask him to skate together at the same ice, made by Yuuri’s magic.