Chapter Text
There is a legend in the land. It tells of a beautiful but lonely princess, trapped within an ice castle, waiting always for someone to find her and set her free.
When the rumor was first told, many attempts were made to find the princess, but all to no avail. Knights and mages alike were left with nothing to show for their efforts but chilblains and chapped lips. Eventually, rumor became myth, and the princess in the ice became nothing more than a story told at night when the world was lit only with candles and lost dreams.
Katsuki Yuuri never set out to find the princess. He never set out to find anything other than himself. But, as happens so often in so many stories, in the end he found everything he needed and more.
This is that story.
It starts with Yuuri being told, kindly enough, that he doesn’t have what it takes to be a great mage.
“Yuuri,” the test administrator says with sympathy in her voice. “It’s obvious from the initial testing you have some talent, but…you just don’t perform well under pressure, and this is a high-pressure position.”
It’s true, too. Yuuri’s power is elemental in nature—fire, to be specific—but it’s also incredibly fickle. He can only really conjure it when he’s feeling intense emotion, and even then he can’t control it.
If only embarrassment counted as an intense emotion, he thinks bitterly. I would be able to conjure all the time.
“Um…yeah. No, I get it.” He tries to smile, but fails. “Thanks anyway.”
“Of course. Be well.”
“You also,” he responds on autopilot, and turns around to leave behind the last chance he had at his dreams.
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“Aw, Yuuri,” his mother coos, attempting to cheer him up. “You know that even if you aren’t with the King’s Mages, there’s always someplace for you here.”
“Yeah, I know, Ma.” He sighs and lays his head on the table. “I just…really wished there was a place for me with them too.”
“You’ll always find your place where you need to be, not necessarily where you want to be,” his father pipes up. “For example, I certainly never thought I would be running an onsen in the middle of an ice kingdom!”
“Me neither,” nods his mother. “Definitely not.”
“And yet, here we both are.”
“Mm.” Yuuri turns over on his bed, staring at his childish illustrations of the legendary ice princess. She always used to be his inspiration. The legend says she built the ice castle in which she lives herself, something which would require the utmost talent and control. He soaked up every tale about her that he could find. But what has she done for him in the end? He shakes his head and gets up. “I’m going for a walk.”
“Yuuri, it’s a blizzard out there. You’ll get lost.”
“I’ll be fine.” He manages another fake smile. “And hey, maybe frostbite counts as an extreme emotion.”
“That’s not very funny,” his mom mutters, while his dad chuckles. She hits him on the shoulder.
He bundles up in his warmest clothes and lights a lantern. His parents and sister watch him worriedly, but he waves off their concerns and waves goodbye.
“I’ll be back in maybe an hour. Don’t wait up.”
“You know I will. Come back to us safe,” calls his mother to his retreating form. “That boy, I swear.”
“Stop worrying. He’ll be fine.”
As it happens, Yuuri does not end up being fine. Well, maybe eventually, but in the short term, he gets lost in the blizzard.
He peers around and sees nothing except snow. Every direction looks the same. If he’s being accurate, there’s a small hill in one direction, but other than that everything looks the same. Without a better lead to go on, he heads towards the small hill, but he knows that things are pretty bleak right now. People don’t come back from blizzards like this unless there’s some sort of miracle, and his life has been decidedly free of miracles or anything resembling them thus far.
He sighs, his breath coming out in puffs of white air, and shivers for what must be the thousandth time in the past, like, minute. His lantern went out a long time ago. Maybe if he were a better fire mage and his head were less fuzzy he could light it again, but he isn’t and it’s not, so he’s left with no lantern, icy clothes, and a sneaking suspicion that he’s got the beginnings of frostbite on his toes and fingers.
Oh well, he thinks as a sudden wave of tiredness comes over him and he drops to the ground. This is really just more of the same, isn’t it? An unimpressive end to a decidedly unimpressive life. How fitting.
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He wakes up on fire.
His mind still isn’t really operating at full capacity, so this fact doesn’t really fully register for a bit, just that he’s pleasantly warm and apparently in some sort of building.
“That’s lovely, but isn’t it sort of dangerous?” comes a cheerful voice from out of nowhere.
He looks slowly at his arm, which is on fire, and suddenly realizes. That it is on fire.
“CRAP! CRAP! CRAP!” He starts rolling around frenziedly, the new guest watching with interest. “DON’T JUST SIT THERE WATCHING, GET ME SOME WATER, OR—”
“Are you thirsty?” inquires the voice with curiosity.
“NO! I AM ON FIRE!”
“Well, yes.”
“I DO NOT WANT TO BE THAT WAY!” Yuuri is panicking at this point.
“Oh, really?”
Water comes pouring out of the air from nowhere, drenching Yuuri and leaving him shivering, but not on fire.
“Th-thanks.” He finally looks up at his ‘rescuer’.
Whoever it is is the most beautiful man he’s ever seen. He has long silver hair and an innocent smile. He is also completely naked.
“Good God,” Yuuri says, incredulous and slightly affronted. And, um, maybe a bit turned on. But. Only a bit.
“No,” the man responds happily. “I’m Victor, actually.”