Blazing Ice (Winter x Qibli fanfic)

Chapter 8: Reunion (Qibli's POV)

DISCLAIMER: This chapter contains slurs, so I'm letting you know now!!

Qibli finally finished his abnormally large steak after almost 15 minutes. By that point, he had already paid for the bill and headed out of the restaurant to find his boyfriend. He walked through the many aisles of the market, looking for the icy prince. Winter hadn't told him which store he went to, so Qibli was left blindly wandering the place until he ran into him. As he walked around aimlessly, he thought about the magic pouch Winter had. Winter was very suspicious about it, with him making very vague remarks about the magic of it and how it can generate so many gems. Was Winter not telling the full truth? Why would he feel the need to conceal what spell was on it? These questions circled through Qibli's mind as he went through the market. Eventually, he did end up finding Winter in front of a jewelry store of all places. Qibli ran up to him and hugged him tightly.

"There you are!! So, did you buy anything while you were out?" Qibli asked, still wrapped around Winter, who seemed mildly annoyed.

"Uh- no, nothing seemed interesting, unfortunately," Winter responded.

"Really? Not even in your favorite jewelry store?" Qibli teased.

"No, not in there either, now do you have to act as my coat in public?" Winter asked in a monotone voice.

"Well yeah, what else is there to do?" Qibli hugged tighter. Winter relaxed and pressed his head under Qibli's chin.

"I love you, sand-snorter,"

"I love you too, my icy prince~"

They both hugged for a while, fully embracing each other. Qibli eventually let go and smiled at him.

"So what else is there to do around here? I hear they have games and stuff," Qibli nodded his head in a vague direction.

"Well, might as well. Clearly there's nothing to buy here anyway," Winter responded. 

They started walking to where Qibli thought the games were, but suddenly heard a roar in the sky. They looked up to see several dark shapes hurtling towards them, landing in front of them, nearly knocking over one of the stands next to them. Glaring back at them was none other than Queen Tundra herself, as well as King Narwhal and a couple of guards. Winter's eyes widened and took an instinctive step back. Everyone one else in the market either hid or ran away from the IceWing royals. Tundra cleared her throat and spoke loudly.

"Prince Winter, it's been quite a bit, hasn't it? You've been living well, I presume?" Tundra asked in her queenly tone. Winter hesitated before answering.

"Yeah, I have. W- what are you even doing here?" Winter answered.

"Well, we've noticed quite a drop in money in our royal vault. Last year, we were level at about 6 million gems, and now, we're only accounting for 1 million. I guess you know nothing about this?" Tundra locked her cold gaze onto Winter.

"No! Why- why would I know anything about that?" Winter took another step back, his wing brushed against Qibli's. Tundra snorted.

"Yes, that's what I thought you'd say. Of course a young prince wouldn't dream to steal from the royal vault, now would they?" Tundra said condescendingly.

"What are you trying to say? That I go all the way back to the Ice Kingdom just to steal your money? Well, no, I don't. That's an insanely long flight! Also why are you still calling me 'prince'? You banished me so long ago!" Winter snapped back. Qibli didn't know where this was going, but he could tell that it wasn't going to be good. He was prepared to protect Winter at all costs, no matter what happened. 

"Well, not exactly like that, but yes, I am accusing you of stealing from our vault. There's no one else it could be, Winter," Tundra's tone got colder, and she took a step forward.  Qibli instinctively put stretched his wing in front of Winter, giving Tundra an intimidating glare. "Move, SandWing, don't make me freeze you," Tundra threatened.

"I'm not going to let you hurt him, your majesty. So keep back," Qibli responded. Was this the smartest thing to do? No, but Qibli had to keep Winter safe as best he could. He couldn't lose another lover. Tundra sighed in annoyance.

"Very well, then. Now Winter, would you like to explain how you're stealing from us?" 

"I- I'm not! Why do you think I'm the thief? That doesn't make any sense! How would I access your vault 700 miles away?" Winter voice sounded strained.

"That's what I would like to know," Tundra's tone got meaner. "We've had an animus enchant a map for us to see where the money was going, and guess where it led us. Right to here. Not only that, but we sent one of our spies to confirm our suspicions. It would've been better if he wasn't seen, but that doesn't matter now. Now tell me, how and why are you robbing us?" There was a very tense pause.

"I- I don't- that's not me! I don't have some magical portal to steal your gems! It has to be someone else here!" 

"You're lying. I know you are because there was an animus item also stolen from us 8 years ago. A small pouch that allows you access all of the money from the Ice Kingdom's vault. And guess who else went missing 8 years ago?" 

Qibli was starting to get concerned. Surely Winter hadn't been robbing the Ice Kingdom for 8 years straight? Was that how he was able to do anything without a job? Winter looked down at his pouch and back up to his mother.

"Do you- this- this isn't that pouch! It-" Tundra hissed and stepped closer, Qibli strengthened his stance.

"Those are the same markings, Winter! I wasn't born yesterday! You clearly stole not only one of our animus objects, but also started robbing us for 8 years under our noses! You're lucky I haven't killed you yet!" Tundra yelled. Winter was trapped. His cover was blown, he couldn't deny it any longer. He sighed in defeat.

"Yeah, I have. I would say I'm sorry, but that would be a lie," Winter said boldly. Tundra started approaching him. Qibli jumped in front of him and hissed. Tundra was starting to get frustrated.

"Why are you protecting this brat?! He's committed multiple crimes and needs to be punished! Get out of the way!" Tundra yelled.

"I'm not letting you hurt him, your majesty. Out of all due respect I can't let you hurt my boyfriend," Qibli realized he messed up at the last moment. He shouldn't have mentioned Winter was his boyfriend. He forgot IceWings were homophobic. The queens eyes darkened and locked back on Winter.

"Of course, on top of all that you're a faggot as well," the queen said coldly. Qibli was taken aback. Everyone around them gasped. Even Narwhal seemed a bit surprised. Did she really say that?

"M- Mom don't say that here!" Winter said.

"I am a queen, I can say whatever the hell I want. Now, would you make things easier and surrender yourself to us?" Tundra asked.

"No," Winter put bluntly. 

"Very well. Here's the deal. You have exactly one day to break relations with the other faggot, or else we'll do it for you. Heed this warning. We'll be staying around to watch you. Please make the right choice, prince. Surely you've gained some intelligence in that head of yours," Tundra said before turning and walking away with Narwhal and the other guards. Winter leaned into Qibli once she was out of sight.

"So what should we do? Sh- Should we leave?" Qibli asked. He didn't want Winter to be near his mother any longer than he needed to be. 

"No, we can't leave. We can't let them know where we live. It's huge trouble if we do. I'll find a way to get rid of them. I- I can think of a way!" Winter was breathing rapidly.

"But what if they don't go away?" Qibli asked.

"I- I don't know... I- I don't want to go back to the Ice Kingdom, Qibli," Winter started tearing up. Qibli hugged him and let him cry on his shoulder.

"Hey, it's going to be okay. We'll find a way, Winter. No matter how much hate she spits out, we'll stay strong," Qibli encouraged. 

It was then that Qibli saw movement out of the corner of his eye. He didn't see what it was though, as he felt a sudden pain in the back of his head, and everything went black.