Chapter 1: Winter winds in the wild
Chapter Text
ㅡCold dewy air escaped the young man's lips when he firmly stepped across the sire's courtyard. Frozen snow crunched under his finely polished black congress shoes and his teeth clattered even though his body was swathed in several layers of warm clothing. When white started falling from heaven yet again, he scrunched his nose and let his gaze zoom in on the maleficent gate that held on to what was worth a gentleman's home. Burying his hands deeper into his pockets, the young man increased his crunchy footsteps rather than spend more than needed time out here in the gold, empty landscapes in the outcasts of London, England.
Drawing in on the huge gate, a disoriented guarding young male hurried out from the small shelter he had been priced, to tear the old barrier open. The servant bowed deeply for the young man, not once glancing up from the ground that his shaking frame was scurrying down towards in pure fright. Not with respect. The young man mumbled a small acknowledgment while passing. He ignored the twist of erroneous feelings in his stomach.
Continuing down the wide trail up to the mansion, snow was piling along the way, showing off poor men's hard work of removing the white mass in order to clear the path. The young man wasn't surprised at all. Quickly he stepped up the slippy stairs, now feeling a numbness settling in his feet before he reached a gloved hand out for the steel-cold door handle. The grand wood piece went open with only a faint screeching sound coming from its hinges, and the gentleman stepped indoors the warm walls of the victorian building. Maids circled him in the front hall as they helped the young man out of his outerwear and brought it with them. Warm settled into his red cheeks and made them sting in weird contrast to his numb lips.
"Young master, thee may meet lord Harvey in the dining room, per sir's order's," one of the maids spoke, her hands gathered in front of her body as she held her head low.
The young man was taking off his gloves with manners and gently blowing at his itching hands, handing the black leathers onto someone who happened to reach for the item. He nodded his head, thanking her for the piece of information before proceeding deeper into the heart of the building. The smell of dinner from the kitchen made its welcome when he passed the area before stepping through a couple of door frames until he was met with a flaunting feast of a table.
The only man sitting by the furniture stared up at the young man, a dour smile parting his face.
"Son, welcome home! I have awaited you," the man said against his gritted teeth, a voice there was latched with pure hatred and the tint of a thick British accent.
Seonghwa was used to it anyway - not a single astounding reaction came from him as he took a seat across from the older male, supposedly his father, who hadn't been waiting any bit on him, as it already seemed like he was past his second plate of goods. The young man scoffed quietly under his breath. For a minute or two, he spent observing how the man before him consumed yet another filled plate with food. Seonghwa's appetite dropped instantly. Then a servant stepped forward and filled the plate for him.
"How has their day been, sire?" Seonghwa asked while dragging his fork around in his food absently. He wished to be dismissed from the table already by now.
Plotting his irky eyes down at the young man, sir Harvey let out a hum in somehow satisfaction.
"Perfect, absolutely perfect! Everything is going smoothly and sales of goods from the rich lands are rising briskly. I tell you, when those bad weathers vanish we will leave the empire yet again!"
Looking down at his white rice, Seonghwa simply nodded in agreement with his father.
"Sure, sire."
The words rolled off his tongue with the intonation, that he so much despised.
Being a busy businessman on the eastern side of the world, his father Jonathan Scott Harvey was known to be traveling a lot overseas. Most of the time, he wasn't even home, lacking the fatherly figure he should have been to Seonghwa. But money before family. After all, that was how Seonghwa suddenly was a block around his father's leg - the result of getting a beautiful young Korean woman pregnant by accident on one of his business travels to the eastern waters. First, when Seonghwa was five, his father decided to take the little boy with him to England when it suddenly dawned on him how he still hadn't any heir to all his business. And unfortunately, was Seonghwa the only child he had of his own flesh and blood.
Seonghwa had learned to accept it - not everyone would be the number one choice, and not minding it seemed to work perfectly in order to keep sanity in place.
The young man felt eyes digging down into his fair skin, and he slowly pulled his courtesy up again.
"Eat. Your thin form creates talks places it shouldn't. I won't tolerate this," sir Harvey ordered with his arms laying crossed over his full chest.
Seonghwa was looking nothing like his father's sculpted mass-body, only the height. Reasons weren't that much the genes, instead, the young man was aware of his low rate of interest in taking care of his own health. When trailing through the town, his eyes never succeed in failing to see the huge gap between impoverished and wealthy. The look in their pitiful painfully pleading eyes; enough to make the rich scurry away before they were smitten with the disease that applies to the difference between life and death, all counting off hard work. No posh people wanted their honored hands dirty. Except for the young Harvey heir - he was feeling terrible mistaken in this world.
Roaming from nasty corners, a cold feeling enveloped him in a sinister war of discomfort, almost like the winter winds in the wild, and Seonghwa finally started tasting the first bite when he felt enough bothered with the hawk eyes digging into his existence. Regardless of the time it had laid still on his plate, he still burned the tip of his tongue; let it be the food was too hot, or the thereafter sentence that was said by the lonely table.
"You look the most handsome'st on a winter day, son."
Sir Harvey was a confident man. He never doubted his own capabilities, like a sun that never ended shining with its boldness. But Seonghwa had never extracted that ability, not that it ever was sufficient to make him frail or feeble - but at that moment he sat across from the said assertive male, he was astonished in a way that felt wrong. Carefully, the young Harvey heir let his hand that clutched around his fork sink to the table's surface while he looked up at sir Harvey. A bitter taste spread around in his mouth, he needed something to wash it clean with. Undoubtedly his father was not making a law of relocation out of the beforehand suggest, he could tell from the smug smile that coated sir Harvey's lips with a layer of toxins. His hands were folded neatly above his elbows that rested on the table and he cocked his head to the side when Seonghwa's wide eyes fell upon him. Sir Harvey chuckled breathily before he squinted his eyes like a sly serpin and downed his wine in one go with a sole subsequently cluttering.
Cold air wrapped itself around him, having higher might playing him like a silly rag doll that was tossed to the side when finished off. The hope in his eyes withered with the disappointment that replaced the warm blow of spring when his father left the table to Seonghwa all by himself. The son had yet to defeat the puppet master, but when God was laying a hand over you, nay was there to let tricks unfold. The young man tightened his jaw as his gaze was left to stare into the empty colored wall of a home that should have been warm.
Albeit every good deed he lived on, the attention would never be more than a merely whispered remark, nonheard. Seonghwa's thoughts were torn apart when he remembered how he was supposed to stay present in the company of people who awaited the finish of his meal.
"Sir, are thee-"
He felt persistent bad for standing up and erupting all hard work there had been done here, but his sentience felt as overflowing the levees that kept him trapped in what he was supposed to do.
"I am thanking for the dinner, ma'am, please have a good night," the young man saluted politely before taking his leave out of the room.
That vile taste still sheathed around his whole being, and he must pray for God to have mercy on his distasteful notion. He was not worth this life.
❄
Chapter 2: One was a mourning butterfly
Chapter Text
When he melted down in his mellow white comforts he felt like he was falling down in craggy stones, having a numbness surrounding him instead of the supposed pain. The prayers for God were stuck behind his tongue as if they were not strong enough to be spoken loudly of as words. Seonghwa curled in the cold, having his fingers braided for a plea that he so grand wanted to believe was heard. The boy had plenty of things he wanted to believe in, as pure ones of a fairy-believer were. The never-ending tales that his mother used to tell him when he was younger than five, did never disappear from his wares of warm memories. He remembered them all and treasured them a place deeper than his heart.
Yet the reality was nothing more than wet steel, sloshing against him like a throbbing wave of the sea, and every hope and dream was left for the mere pathetic souls.
The young man fell asleep long before he even noticed his prayers never were said, faulting the vow he had promised himself never to break. The bed was still cold, comparably to a frosty night where the north wind would strike the last dying butterfly to the ground. Its wings ripped off and only the miserable pieces left to mourn over its piteous state. He was a butterfly with lost wings.
_____
The boy's whole body trembled like falling autumn leaves when he awoke from his light slumbers. Even though his covers had been there as a shield of protection around his form, the darkness had still found its way into his bones and the displeasure was glinting in his open eyes.
Seonghwa found the vitality and raised his shaking frame from the soft surface beneath him. His hands grasped around the covers while he tugged his limbs further into his body in order for keeping a minimum of body heat. The eyes wanted to fall shut, but his body dismissed him to fall apart yet, forcing him to face all hurdles in life. Thin air was trapped inside the walls of the dark room, making the boy gaping for an air that strangled him more than it eased him. When he turned around, tears dotted his sight with no caution, and a breath of air got stuck in his chest.
Seonghwa rolled around and got out of the bed, sinking his bare feet down on piercing needles situated across the cold wooden planks. With a fogging mind, his eyes frantically searched for a clearing in the horizon, looking east for where the sunrise would appear as a sparkling source of light.
The young man stopped in front of the window, trailing his eyes along with the curtain until he reached out and slowly pulled it to the side with trembling, ice-cold fingers. Blue might coat his eyes in crystals.
No sun shone through, grey being the new green. Empty, white, cold, grey, sad, numb, nothing.
The young Harvey heir's heart dropped low when the realization traced his mind of imagination. More than a magical winter wonderland sheathed in layers of white snow, the once lively garden was nothing more than bones and white ash left in a desolated scenery, casting hymns of death from the deep of the cracked mirror that once was a mirror-gloss lake. A chill reached the tip of his nose, and he stepped away from the frozen window, letting the curtains stay open to reveal what realities had to offer him.
Normally, Seonghwa would have servants running between his feet as bewildered mice, albeit the many times he had told he needed no help for dressing or awake, but no one dared to go against sir Harvey's orders. Today, he stood unattended in front of the huge wardrobe, staring at the dull flavour of colours. Not a single soul had peered into his bedchamber as well as not any other sound than the howling wind through the mansion was to be heard. The young male listened to his heart beating rapidly in his chest. Nothing else.
Surely he reached for the hanger and let the soft silk fabric fall into his hands. His eyes fell into the deep blue color that his father always had told him suited him the best. Seonghwa threw off his white sleeping garments, letting the coolness pinch his bare skin before he slipped on the dark blue dress shirt. His deep eyes were glossy. The shirt hugged his silhouette gingerly, while he drew the trousers up and tugged the ends of the shirt into them. Tightly, he strapped the buttons around his slender waist, and hurriedly finished clothing himself.
The door creaked when Seonghwa stepped out onto the corridor. Everything was silent when his shoes tapped the floor further down the maleficent staircase. His trained eyes searched the crown bearer of this house, but not even the dining table was served with breakfast for the start of the day. With a furrow, Seonghwa stood in utter confusion in the middle of the dining room. The light from a lit candle flickered in the oil lamp that was placed in a window sill, and he quietly stepped further through the house. Forsaken, the wooden planks groaned underneath the young man's feet as he entered the parlor with the belief of lone on his mind.
A touch of fingertips brushed his one shoulder just before his eyes fixated down at the once burning tiled stove. Only the abandoned sparks smoldered in the measly remnants of soot. The fire had burned out and left was what the master never had needed.
A troubled tightness was found around his throat, Seonghwa turned stiff around on his heels, his black congress shoes ramming furiously against the cold floor as he steered for his father's workroom. While his face turned troubled, the knocks on the door became more violent as he beat himself down. Despite heavy feeling in the feet, his promises for God were never enough for what saliva had driven him to swallow as a beast. Seonghwa never let himself say the words out loud, but if his thoughts had a voice, God would have been disappointed with him.
The young heir stopped knocking, instead took his time flattening his now untidy deep blue dress shirt as he awaited a response in front of his father's working room. His head was whirling when it all seemed as if he stood inside of a huge clockwork.
He didn't know what he should do with himself when there never came an answer. Seonghwa was cold, and he finally let his hands wander to the handle he slowly turned downward. He had not expected the room to be left this chaotic. His eyes turned wide open over the left side, where parchments and papers were scattered alongside the wall all the way over to sir Harvey's work table. A container of ink had fallen, spilling the dark substance down over the papers and pouring further down onto the expensive wooden floor. Seonghwa was in a loss for words. He stepped inside, following the path of spread paper sheets across the ground, not minding stepping on any of them. The hollow sound rummaged inside the walls and the ink splattered onto his clean shoes and trousers when he finally stood ahead the desk, having his orbs glued to the different texts of information he never was allowed to know of. The male reached down and heaved a paper that was spared of the devastating fluid to his sight. All concerning economic and sales. Seonghwa dropped the paper to the floor and stepped on it, staining the before-clean written paper with ink.
His eyes searched for more important information, but numbers were all that interested his father. Numbers and achievements. But Seonghwa wanted to find out the reason behind this untidy room, why they had left. A more yellowish piece of parchment there was hidden under a stack of books caught Seonghwa's eyes, and he moved to pull it out with careful hands. The piece had marks after different folds and ripples, nonetheless the young man unfolded it out of inquisitiveness, conducting his heart rate to stop when the contents passed his understanding. The letters were no english spoken language nor a language even the slightest alike. And yet Seonghwa found the foreign letters close at heart. His eyes spun deeper into the parchment, trying to understand what was written in his actual mother-tongue. The letters of hangul were smeared onto the surface as if tears had been dispersed in the middle of writing. The young man drew in a breath as his eyes flickered up for a moment before diving down into the information of sorrow. Unfortunately, Seonghwa had never learned to read or write the Korean language of the fact he was only five years of age when he left his mother. His dictionary had still been far too little at that time to remember it all, but a thing he understood from this page of parchment, was the words scribbled into the bottom in English.
Soon will I die
No other information, just the direct words of reality. A realization that both made Seonghwa's world stop and turn at the exact same time. He wanted to imagine his father had perceived what fault he had made in the past and now traveled back to the lands he had left Seonghwa's mother in. But Seonghwa knew this wasn't the truth, particularly since this letter was written at least a decade ago.
The young Harvey heir must have felt at least a single tear flee his eye, before he tugged the letter into his trouser's pocket and left sir Harvey's workroom, still as untidy as before.
❄
Chapter 3: When your veins fill with ice
Chapter Text
His boots had gathered lumps of snow under the soles when he reached the noble stable. Thudding the white mass off, he opened the heavy door he rarely did by himself. A hefty smell of stable enveloped him as he stepped into the enormous building, even though no creatures were in here. All the stalls were emptied for horses, and Seonghwa started wondering how it even was possible he hadn't noticed anything sooner.
Proceeding further down the empty stable, he imagined how chaotic it must have been, concluded from the way harnesses were thrown just as much across the ground as the papers in sir Harvey's workroom. Horses kicking around with shrill whinnies while servants tossed orders everywhere to keep up with the time interval their master had given them. The young male suddenly heard the strike of something hitting boards somewhere in the building and his head immediately turned in the sound's direction, fearing what he might find. Silently, he formed a plea with his lips, when he neared the continuingly hammering sound.
There, a coal-black colt stood, flickering with his head to the sides while aggressively pulling at the ropes that held him back from fleeing the empty stable. Foam and sweat covered the majestic creature's coat as he stepped to the side while turning his head surprised at the human and let out a lonely whinny. Something in the pitch of tone made a recognizing twist in the pit of his guts and he swallowed difficulty. Then a powerful leg was brought up and scrambled against the wooden plank, making a flush of realization go through the young Harvey heir. Not only had he been left alone in the house, but he had been given a furious stallion as well to do something with. Cold settled even deeper in his bones. He could leave the horse here and proceed his travel on pure leg strength, but morale was against that decision, and Seonghwa left the stall to find suitable harnesses for the trip.
He should have feared for his life at the moment he approached the horse, but when the saddle and tack were fastened in less than a couple of minutes, it was already too late to do so. Seonghwa gently stroked the stallion across its warm neck in a matter of praise and led the pacing animal out in the cold, having buckled his satchel with supplying onto the saddle. Seonghwa forgot everything about panic when the winter winds caught up with his form again. The horse chewed tensively at the biddle while the young man did his best to steer the dancing horse close to a stool that allowed him to ascend the horse. Foam dripped from the stallion's muzzle when his hard work finally paid off and he mounted the horse's back. He doubted his father had done any better than this.
Not a second later, the stallion jumped forward, and Seonghwa was coerced to follow the movement. The horse tossed throughout the snow quicker than he had presumed the drift to go. Panic rose in his chest when he figured the reins were to no use seeing as the furious animal didn't listen to his signals. What did it even matter now, that he already bolted away from the mansion, what was never meant to be his home, in a brave gallop across the lands of his father's property. The Harvey heir had decided never to turn around again. This one time in his life, he didn't listen to anyone's orders anymore. He would finally breathe on his own.
And he jumped the fence before wavering out in the huge, white world. His fealty was to find the colors he had lost a long time ago. The frozen wind tore in Seonghwa's dark hair, winding its way beneath his dark blue gentleman's cape, reminding him of how fragile he actually was to the world's harsh lick. It was just about time the waves would be strong enough to crash against him.
After fighting their way through a snowdrift, they crossed a deserted village, not a single human was to be seen. Seonghwa took his time and dismounted the stallion before shaking off the snow in his clothes. His face was burning red from the cold, and he had to squint his eyelids in order to keep his eyes from freezing to ice. The coolness from the temperature stung in his fingers and feet, but as soon as he stood on the ground again, he could feel the blood rush in his legs again. Seonghwa searched for any sources with fluid water, even though he knew the chances were low. His horse was scraping in the ground with a front leg, showing its dissatisfaction about the situation. Empty buckets were piled up along the frozen well, and he knew it was to no use of trying to break the surface; the world had already made that decision. So Seonghwa returned to his impatient horse, running a calming gloved hand across its frosty fur while he softly mumbled small praisings in its ear.
The man glanced around the petite, close crooked, and compact constructions where no sign of life was to be seen. All windows and doors were closed, empty and dark and an unwelcoming aura seeped from the whole village, chasing unwanted outcomers away. He never came to these outskirts villages of the huge towns city laying near, and yet it somehow didn't happen to disappoint his imaginations. Seonghwa led the stallion to the well and found his way up in the saddle again before the horse would run away without its rider.
With no gain from the visit, they disappeared to a place out in the unknown world. The young man surveyed the surroundings for every step his horse took, trying to keep up with the route covered in layers of snow, but the further away from the small village they proceeded, the harder it came to see what was trails and what wasn't. His hopes faltered the moment the stallion stumbled across what was hiding under the white and out of surprise pranced forward, kicking its legs higher than Seonghwa ever had had a chance to keep his balance from falling deeper than he ever had believed himself to do. Out of control, his body tumbled down into scenarios of tailing nightmares while his heart stopped working for a long time, his head hitting a hard surface and his limbs landing wrong. The man lost all breath as the ground swayed under him just alike the pain soothing his mind in a state of panic.
He watched his horse disappear in a frantic gallop in the distance, his black color soon vanishing into the limitless white coating what else was to be seen.
The feeling of vanquishing hit him harder than the ground just had done, and no one was here to ever find his corpse that ere long would be buried in snow.
❄
Chapter 4: Winter nights
Chapter Text
It wasn't to tell when the sun had set, as the sky had been covered in a thick layer of white dust all day long. He didn't feel the temperature dip further down, already having his senses frozen cold, although he tried keeping his heart beating in the last ray of warmth. Somehow, Seonghwa had managed to drag himself to the naked tree that stood a few meters away. Every fiber in his body had denied the request, though he had pushed through the pain of cold and hurt until his scattered frame laid still against the hard shield of rind. The male felt too much to know that assorted bones were broken even without having an executing perceive his suspicion.
Darkness swelled in his senses, having the blow of winter fill his veins with cold. The young man wished to curl himself together until the slightest heat sparked alive, but he couldn't. Seonghwa's breath was heavy and faint, hands were forced apart when he sought for braiding them in silent prayer. He wasn't able to move when another wind rustled through his clothes. This night, Seonghwa would stay awake when he wanted to fall asleep.
The ground was wet and uninvited started soaking through the fabrics when Seonghwa's mind slipped to far corners. He wished dreams to stay awake while he fell asleep. Slowly, the male felt his lips crack and nothing more than an hourglass was appearing graceful in his imaginations. It was idly a question for time to run out. Until the last sand grain had blown away.
There, he forced his head up as he stared into the rays of white that exploded in the dark of the night. Seonghwa's teeth clattered with his whole body that shook in chill while his eyes sought through the tears that formed because of the bright light. His neck was cold, and wouldn't move, thus he stayed in place having no living chance on scurrying away if the light was to fear. But he knew it wasn't.
With only teardrops dripping down his cold cheeks, the young heir felt his breath strangle everything inside of him. A broadening of white feathers withered in what he couldn't see before a boy appeared from what would have been the escape of the hourglass. His last breath was taken away.
It was an angel, that approached his poor form, he was sure. Gentle with every single movement of the time as he lowered himself to Seonghwa's stade and reached for assembling his falling tears. Was he saved? Wordless, the boy stared at the stranger that let the collected tears melt across his fingers before they fell to the ground. The boy raised his head again, searching for the frozen orbs of Seonghwa's. Seonghwa had never met this boy before, although the eyes of the stranger were glinting with knownance and comfort as if he had known them sometime before. A lie would fall from his lips if he wouldn't be spelling the truth.
"Thee eyes are shining like millions of sparkling diamonds.."
He didn't knew why, how, or when the words left his lips as they had glued together, but when his breath suddenly dusted the air with the mist of a lost soul, he heard his own words as a faraway echo. Seonghwa wasn't sure of why he only saw the eyes of the boy. A heavenly stargaze, glimmering down at him. And then, his eyes felt heavy, too heavy, letting exhaustion swathe tightly around his body in a spell, and he closed them preciously.
Seonghwa felt like he was sinking deeper down than the snow would allow him to, while the beautiful snowflakes were piercing through his being with a hidden secret. His thoughts were disappearing under the surface as he gasped for air. If just another minute had passed, he would never have known the unfamiliar boy had touched his face with his warm hand that sparked life to last a small amount further.
"What do their name be, wondrous," a faint soft voice spoke, warming his senses.
"Seonghwa.."
The boy repeated the spoken name, letting it melt onto his tongue without any twist. Seonghwa did not hear any of it. He wanted the coldness to swallow him instead of lapping on him slowly and addictively. He wanted to believe that survival was not a part of the horizon, but this boy would do him differently.
With his docile ways, his trembling limbs were embraced in tender care he almost had forgotten everything about in all the years he had lived with his father.
The unfamiliar boy had draped his arm across his snow-covered shoulders while carefully tucking him into his chest. When the male's head finally fell onto a soft but protecting surface, he let his guard down, as all stiffness and tension let go with their strangling hands around his body. Seonghwa broke down before his mind would stop it. It happened he was back in childhood, his mind clear and innocent, heart warm and loved.
"Eomma!"
Laughter was filling his senses with happiness, his little hands reaching for the warmth of his mother's. No winter, no snow, no cold. Suddenly he remembered it all in a flash of scarful emotions.
Snow white pearls grew fast on his face as his heart crumbled in his chest. The memory hurt him physically more than what should be possible, but an arm cradled him into them and he felt like a mere child again. The five-year-old boy had not been aware of any cruel thing in the world. He was brought right into the comfort of a mother's bosom.
"Do not worry, my Star. Thee won't be alone."
For a moment, his heart jumped several beats, as if death was increasing. He knew this inner fight would only have one winner. Something dearly soft, gently touched the lips of his and Seonghwa let his whole physique sink into the feeling as his mind soared to heaven. A beautiful night sky painted his heavy eyelids with light as the lips upon his own sent heatwaves across his low-temperatured skin. It forced the man's eyes open to glimpse at the glowing boy that was kissing him with the meek effort that pulled him away from the winter spell. Seonghwa's eyes drowsily passed the other boy's features; watching his gleaming locks of hair, counting the eyelashes from his closed eyes, viewing his light glowing skin, spotting the tip of his nose that barely touched his own, finally coming to lingering on the rosy lips that seemed to tender his own attentively. He let himself dwell into the cold fever that peeked the more intense his thoughts came to be before he slowly remembered that this angel was the one kissing him. Defying his beliefs, he must be brittle for letting another male drawing him like this, when God had etched those acts as the one of a sinner.
But the boy was an angel, his sweet whispers of a vernacular that Seonghwa didn't know of told him the truth, and his skin that glowed more than the brightest light. Seonghwa envisioned the feathers growing from his back, only manifesting the purest existence, higher than any reality was to be. All angels should be kissable, therefore no sin had been pursued. He felt safe.
His body fell further down, and he let out a shaky breath when the angelic boy leaned back again. Guarded, Seonghwa closed his eyes and only narrowly noticed how his body had given up on shaking warmth in him again. The northern wind was whirling around now stronger than before, but the boy only caressed his cheeks with his soft and calm hands that shielded the cold from his face.
"I feel so cold," he whispered faintly as a new layer of snow sprayed across his feet.
The boy stared down at the bluish hue of skin, that seemed to only have small patterns of life staying. A finger trailed around his one eye, revealing his lost sensibility.
"My breath feels heavy and my chest hurts...so much.."
The boy kissed Seonghwa's temple and held him tighter to his own small frame. A tear fell from his face and blended with the frozen ones down Seonghwa's cold cheek. Weakly the boy brought his hand into the pocket where the letter was tugged away and gently brought it out. Then he unfolded it and forbearingly read the information. The young man never knew what was done, as his eyes didn't open again.
"I think I am losing my mind, am I seeing things? The stars do be coming closer, I see them and I-I," Seonghwa stopped mid-sentence when he fell unconscious for seconds.
The boy carefully brushed some of Seonghwa's black hair away from his peaceful face. As if he had been holding his breath, Seonghwa retrieved into consciousness again, his eyes wide open in fear and his hands for the first time reaching for the angelic boy.
"I beg thee, don't leave me!"
Their eyes fell deep into each other, before Seonghwa's sight rolled backward and his breathing disappeared again. He awoke again with a sob escaping his scratchy throat, and the boy braided their hands together despite the broken bones.
"My-my heart, please.."
He felt the angel kiss him again before his body shut down again. Hysterically he came back with new fears roaming from his beautiful dazzling eyes.
"Don't fight against death, wondrous, little star. I will protect you from evil," the angel spoke lovingly enough to make Seonghwa believe in his words.
Kissing an angel must mean that you were saved. Seonghwa must be saved.
He swallowed his worries from reality and let them wither away in the winter winds. The beats of his heart faded with the frail breaths.
"I think you're my light... Has God sent thee? My savior, my guardian... you're an angel.." Seonghwa rambled as the last thing to keep him from falling out of this world.
The boy smiled down at him while steering Seonghwa's head into his warm embrace, his hands still resting in the other's.
His eyes closed, and they never opened again, "I can't feel myself anymore, I think my heart s-stopped beating."
The seconds passing were the most intense ones in his whole life, as his young soul found its way out of the before protecting shield. The innocence of his lips spilled the last shared words he wanted to whisper in the dead winter night.
"Am I dying?"
"You won't leave me as e-everyone else did, you're different."
The angel gave his hands a promising squeeze, "I promise you, Seonghwa. You were loved by more than you thought."
The winter nights went on as the corpse of the once-only heir dwindled in bathed light buried underneath the banks of deep snow. The young man's hands were weaved into the ones of his light in the darkness.
"In the middle of a winter night, I found my source of light. And that light is you." ㅡ
❄