Chapter Text
Ice is beautiful, powerful, dangerous and cold, foul and fair and hard to control. One kingdom, two twins who were almost inseparable, one born with powers and one with none. Nothing bad has ever happened, though one must never be reckless, or it can lead to a bitter mistake, leading to cold consequences. Just like this one..
Beware the frozen heart.
Out in the sky, was a river of a mystical, seafoam green and a majestic, illuminating blue, wafting in the night sky where stars, small and bright dazzled in the darkness. The sky was awake, and so was a certain turtle tot.
In the kingdom of Arendelle, ruled by King Splinter and King Baron Draxum, though they weren't exactly married and were more like ruling together, they were fond of each other anyways. There were two princes, twins: Leonardo (or Leo) and Donatello (or Donnie), both of them were known to be inseparable, tied with a bond that could never be broken. They both loved playing together around the castle, day and night, every hour spent together, especially on a night like this.
A red eared slider, dressed in his sapphire blue pyjamas, scampered out of bed at the sight of the Northern Lights shining in the sky, tossing the cerulean sheets off his body with a bright grin on his face. He ran to the other bed in the room, where a softshell slept comfortably and quietly, dressed in lavender pyjamas.
With his little body, he heaved himself up with a grunt, excitedly crawling on top of his younger brother. "Donnie!" He whispered, shaking his twin. "Wake up, wake up, wake up!" Said turtle stirred with a groan. Donnie's eyes barely cracked open as he tiredly shooed Leo away.
"Leo.." he mumbled, not in the mood to deal with his brother's shenanigans, "go back to sleep."
"But Donnie, the sky's awake, so I'm awake! So we have to play!" Leo nagged, dramatically falling onto Donnie. Donnie grabbed Leo's hands that tried to snake their way to his closed eyes and pushed them away. "Go play by yourself."
Leo stared down at his brother and with a knowing smirk, he let out a mockingly sad sigh. "Oh well, I guess me and Shelldon," -Donnie stiffend at the name- "will just have to play all alone together in the snow." Leo leaned in, hardly restraining his chuckles as he opened Donnie's eye, a cheeky grin on his face as he moved his head into Donnie's view. "Soooo? You still want to keep sleeping?"
Donnie's eye was released, and his lips curled up into a smirk as he gave Leo a half-lidded glance, a playful gleam in his dark eyes.
–
The twins ran down the stairs, both of them guffawing and shushing each other when one laughed too loud, not wanting to wake anyone in the castle. They've done this way too many times despite it being against the rules of their parents, but they enjoyed every session of unsupervised fun together.
"Come on Donnie!" Leo giggled, he was always the fastest one and Donatello was always the slowest. Donnie indignantly put a finger on his lips. "Shh!" Leo only laughed and sprinted faster as they neared the door to the ballroom, and soon Donnie's grin returned as they pushed open the large doors and bolted into the centre of the room, leaving the doors to automatically shut themselves.
Donnie pumped his fists, his legs quivering as he vibrated with delight, his eyes were wide and gleaming. "Do the magic, do the magic!" He squealed, unable to control his stimming- a habit he had when he was overjoyed.
Leo chuckled, he moved his hands close together in a circling motion and a cold, arctic blue emerged from his palms. Donnie cooed in awe at the specks of snow hovering within the mystic energy from Leo's palms, the pale blue reflecting in his eyes. Leo glanced at his brother.
"Are you ready?" He asked. Donnie nodded eagerly. Leo threw his arms up, an arrow of magic shooting into the air before bursting into more than thousands of particles of snow. Donnie beamed and cheered as he danced in the flurries showering upon them.
"This is amazing!!" He shouted. Hills of thick, fresh snow were already building up in the ballroom. The twins ran around with glee, howling with laughter, their caution of waking up someone now absent as they leaped in the room.
"Ice incoming!!" Leo yelled. He stomped his foot and ice sprouted from underneath, consuming the floor whole. Donnie yelped, flapping his arms wildly to maintain his balance despite the initial warning. Leo giggled as he slid towards Donnie with ease, his hand tickled the softshell's side which elicited a shriek from the younger one and a bark of laughter from the other. Donnie purposely fell on the snow, feeling much safer on it than being on the ice. Meanwhile Leo was skating with the grace of a swan.
Donnie watched unamusedly at Leo's elegance on the ice. Feeling a little impish, he scooped up some snow, forming it into a snowball and threw it at his brother's smug smile. The sudden attack knocked Leo off his feet. Donnie barked with triumphant laughter at his brother's fall, earning a snowball thrown in his mouth, another triumphant laugh rang from the other side as Donnie spluttered and gagged. Leo was in front of him the moment he wiped his mouth, a gamesome smirk on his face as he looked down at his twin. He raised a brow. "Would you feel better skating if you had a certain snow-drone with you?"
The twins wasted no time in rolling up snow, organizing their snowballs to build their snow-drone. Donnie brushed off some snow on the top of the trapezoid he constructed, smoothing it out till he deemed it perfect. Leo dug into the pockets of his pants, pulling out two rocks and placing them carefully on both sides of Donnie's snow trapezoid. The softshell giggled as he watched the snow-drone lift into the air, supported by misty, blue magic from Leo.
The snow-drone flew over to Donnie till it touched the softshell's nose, earning a giggly yelp at the cold boop. "Sup Donnie! It's me, Shelldon, and I love warm hugs!" Leo said in the best party-dude voice he could mimic. Donnie laughed as Leo rotated the snow-drone in an angle where Donnie could give it a full hug. The softshell affectionately nuzzled his cheek onto Shelldon's head with a series of joyful noises.
"I love you so much Shelldon!" He chirped.
The room rang with mirth as the twins continued to play, throwing confettis of snow into the air, sliding down on the slopes, dancing together, screaming and howling joyfully. It was the usual with them, just having fun like always.
"Hang on!" Leo sang as Donnie jumped in the air. Leo summoned a short column of snow for Donnie to land on, a delightful smile appeared on Donnie's face.
"Again!" Donnie shouted. He continued to hop from column to column, getting higher and higher as he went- and faster. Alarmed at the increase of pace, Leo's columns became more frantic, the slider's smile becoming a panicked one as Donnie continuously jumped.
"Donnie, wait!" He yelled, but his brother wasn't paying attention, too thrilled the higher he went as Leo grew more fearful. "Stop!" Suddenly the slider lost his balance and Donnie sprung into the air, whooping. Leo gasped as Donnie was high, high up and he threw a hand to try and summon a column to catch his brother. "DONNIE LOOK OUT!" But instead of creating another snow column, a blast of ice shot out from his hand and struck Donnie in the head.
Donnie's joyful laughing ceased and he tumbled down a heap of snow, his unconscious body rolled down onto the ice and Leo stared in horror as his brother lay there limp. Leo gasped, scrambling to his feet, running to his brother. He slid on his knees and scooped up his brother- who's body temperature had drastically dropped till it was like holding ice, a streak of pale blue emerged on Donnie's forehead, crossing all the past his eye like a shiny scar. His heart thudded against his chest and fear boiled within him as his brother did not awake. Tears poked at his eyes and he screamed louder than he ever had before. "DAD! DAD! HELP!"
Leo sobbed, tightly hugging his frigid, immobile brother. Frost bloomed throughout the room, the snow crumbled at its touch and a biting chill settled within as the frost conquered every wall. "You're okay Donnie," Leo sobbed, "I got you."
Suddenly, the doors bursted open where the kings- their dads- stood, their faces aghast at the frost that took over the ballroom. "Leo, what have you done?!" Draxum, the taller one exclaimed. "This is getting out of hand!"
Leo hugged Donnie tighter, intimidated by Draxum's harsh, disapproving tone. "It was an accident, I didn't mean to!" Splinter, the stout rat, picked Donnie up, his eyes wide as his hands touched Donnie's frosty body, his gaze tracing the streak on his forehead with alarm.
"Purple! He's as cold as ice!" Splinter gasped. Draxum put a hand on Donnie's forehead, his face twisting into a grimace with a sour look in his dark, golden eyes behind his mask.
"I know where we have to go." Splinter looked up at Draxum and a look of dread flashed in his face, knowing what Draxum meant. Leo whimpered, flinching when Draxum turned to him. The golden horned yokai held out his hand. "Come child, we cannot waste any more time." He declared with a grim sternness in his face. Leo shakily took his father's hand, hauled to his feet immediately.
They bolted out of the icy ballroom and into the library. Draxum snatched a candle and ran to a bookshelf in the corner where much older, worn out books that held information too important to throw were kept, basking in dust and darkness. Nobody, even the princes were allowed to access it except for the kings. Draxum's sharp fingers trailed through the books until he found the one.
Leo watched as he skimmed through the book, watching the waves of pages sweep through the air, particles of dust flying out and causing the slider to sneeze in spite of himself. Just then, Draxum dropped the book, the loud thud reverberated through the room as he held a map in his hand.
Splinter peeked from behind, his furry brows knitted in a frown with a worried crease on his head. "Are you sure this is the right decision?" He asked.
"It's the only way." Draxum replied.
"Where are we going?" Leo timidly asked, unsure if it was wise to speak when his fathers seemed so serious.
"Questions on the way, we can't be here any longer." Draxum said, his brooding tone causing Leo to shut his mouth. Splinter took out a blue bandana, quickly tying it around Leo's face and putting a purple one on Donnie.
The family ran to the stalls, hastily mounting on the horses. Leo sat in between Draxum's legs as Donnie was in Splinter's arms on another horse. "Hold tight Leonardo. HYAP!" He jerked the reins with such force, causing the horse to whinny and charge out of the castle, galloping so fast that Leo had to clutch his father's thighs in order to not fall out.
They rode under the dark sky, cold wind blowing at their faces as they dashed into the shadows of the pine trees, racing out of the kingdom and deep into the woods.
Leo was scared, terrified. He managed to steal a glance at Donnie knocked out cold- seemingly lifeless in Splinter's hands, the rat's face bared with determination as he gripped the reins. Pricks of worry poked at him and he looked up at his father's grave face, his magenta hair flying in the wind with his fierce eyes broodingly set on the path.
Leo gulped, mustering the courage to speak. "Dad, will Donnie be okay?" He asked, desperate for the confirmation that he had not doomed his brother. Draxum did not look down or say a word, making Leo shrink. His eyes focused on his bare hands, the hands that he used to use magic, the hands that could sprout flurries of snow, the magic he used so he and Donnie could play, the magic that he accidentally struck Donnie with.
Leo wanted to curl up, to hug his knees and hide his face where tears threatened to spill. The wind began to pick up, the chilly air nipping at everyone's skin, the icy breeze getting stronger as Leo's fear accelerated. Suddenly, a hand was put on his shoulder and his eyes snapped up to Draxum, though his face was still stern, there was a softer look this time. "Child. Don't feel, don't let it show." Leo's gaze wandered to the trees and his eyes widened at the ice that followed them, glazing over the bark and glinting in the moonlight as they pursued them, ongoing cracks rapidly consuming everything it touched.
"Leo." Leo looked up again to his father who this time looked down at him. "Your brother will be fine. Don't think of it. Control." The words echoed in Leo's head.
Don't think of it. Control. Don't think of it. Control..
Leo folded his hands and brought them to his chest. He inhaled sharply, trying to do what his father told him, but the anxiety lingered and knowing he wouldn't find direct assurance of his brother's safety at the moment, he forced himself to keep silent and tried to conjure up a positive thought. Yet he couldn't help but glance back at Donnie and hastily look away as the guilt struck him twice as hard.
Control. Don't think of it. Control, control..just control.