To melt the ice-cold heart [DISCONTINUED]

Chapter #02 - The cure

Jack nervously roamed through all the books in the royal library, reading their titles and quickly throwing them off the shelves, not wanting to waste even a second. He knew it had to be somewhere in there, there was no way it'd just disappear. Finally, he found it. He came across a big book with a purple cover. It had foregain symbols written all over it, but he didn't even try to translate it. He instead turned a couple of pages and a map fell out of it. He quickly picked it up and looked through it. He knew the way now.

Meanwhile, somewhere in the forest, two boys were walking. They were getting tired already, but they still hoped to catch up to their group. They were the only two kids the ice sellers ever agreed to take to the frozen lake and they still managed to get lost and fall behind. Well, one kid and one... half-kid? It was still unclear for anyone. They had a sleigh with a single cube of ice on it and they were both trying to move it, one pushing and one pulling. After over 10 more minutes they heard the soft sound of hooves clapping against the forest path they just passed. Hoping it was their 'family', they turned around just in time to see... something unexpected.

Two beautiful horses heading somewhere north with two people on each. On one there was a woman in a fancy dress holding a little, unconscious boy with red strings attached to him, on the other one a man wearing royal clothes and another boy with green hair, crying. The grass behind the second horse was immediately freezing, leaving a trail of their way. Both lost boys stared in surprise for a second.

"Ice?" one of them asked. The other, the so-called half-kid, just watched. That was clearly something worth checking out, so soon enough they were both running after the frozen trail, leaving their sleigh behind. "Faster, Robbie!" the first boy hurried.

Rather quickly they could see the four people standing in the middle of a field filled with pumpkins. They were just lying around, growing. The boys hid behind one and just watched, wanting to know what was going to happen. The man in royal clothes spoke up, his voice sounded desperate as he begged.

"Please, help! My son-" he didn't finish. He didn't have to, as almost all the pumpkins started shaking, rolling over to him. They now appeared to be carved and soft light was coming from their cuts. They also seemed to... speak? Even the lost boys could hear a couple of whispers saying 'It's the king'.

One of the pumpkins was standing out with the way it was carved. It only had a moustache and a monocle. Instead of rolling, it was bouncing towards the four people. It eventually stopped and the greenish light coming from it got brighter as it shot up. From under it, a body appeared, seemingly coming out of the pumpkin. Eventually, it looked like a fancy-dressed man with a pumpkin head. He pulled the pumpkin off, revealing his face. He had a small moustache, a monocle and green hair with bowler put over it. 

"How-" the first boy tried to ask, but the pumpkin next to them jumped.

"Shush! I'm trying to listen!" it hissed. The first boy froze, but the second one figured that for whatever reason it would be a great idea to try and lick it. The pumpkin turned and looked at them both. Its carved mouth formed a smile. "Cuties! I'm gonna keep you~!" it hummed and two small roots came from the ground, pulling the boys into a small hug. Meanwhile, the now-human pumpkin smiled as a black square appeared in front of it. On it, there were white letters.

[How may we help you, kind gentleman?] it read. Then, the monocle-wearing fella noticed the strings around Chase's neck and hands. The text changed. [Good golly!] it was saying. The man followed the strings only to see them ending in Marvin's hand. He approached and knelt down, the text changing once again. [Born with the powers, or cursed?]

"Uh... Born! And they're getting stronger," Jack explained. The boys' mother knelt down and showed Chase to the man. He touched the string on the boy's neck and looked it over. He eventually nodded.

[You're lucky the intentions were pure, a spell cast to hurt is hard to change. If it's pure, it can be persuaded with.] the text read as the man dug through his pocket until he found a watch.

"Do what you must," Jack nodded.

The pumpkin-man put the watch in front of Chase and swung it slightly. Again, and again. Left, right, left, right, left, right- Chase watched and he was starting to feel dizzy, but fear was also leaving his body. His eyes closed and soon enough he was asleep right where he was standing. The man swung the watch his way and a green mist left Chase's head, playing memories of two brothers playing with Marvin's magic like a broken record.

[I recommend we remove all magic. Even memories of magic from his head. Your majesty, can you read what I say next? My voice is... unavailable.] a new text read. The king just nodded

"You never saw magic, it wasn't there. You had a lot of fun in winter, you loved snow. And your brother loved showing funny tricks. None of them were connected to magic, it was all natural," Seán read aloud, unsure. As soon as he finished, the green mist came back with all the memories of magic changed.

[It's done. But don't worry, I left the fun.] the text read. [Now the harder part. We need to cut the strings.] it changed as the man pulled out a small carving knife. Everyone tensed up, but they knew it was the only way. So they didn't fight it and the man slowly cut... And finally, the last string came off. [All done. He will be okay when he wakes up.]

"...But he won't remember I have powers?" Marvin asked shyly, glad to see the strings finally leave is hands too.

"It's for the best," Jack nodded.

[Listen to me, Marvin.] the text read despite the boy never getting introduced. He just worriedly read it as it went on. [Your power will only grow. There is beauty in it, but also great danger!] it read. Marvin gasped as he saw the text flash a couple of times before changing. [You must learn how to control it. Fear will be your enemy!] it flashed again and Marvin just ran into his dad, covering his own eyes.

"No, we will protect him!" the man claimed, hugging Marvin closer. "He can learn to control it, I'm sure..."

"Till then... we lock the gates. We reduce the staff. We limit his contact with people. Keep his powers hidden from everyone..."

"Marvin?" a few weeks later, a voice echoes through the hallway as Marvin's doors close.

...even Chase."

[A/N]: Carved pumpkins instead of Trolls? JJ as one of them?? Robbie somewhere out there??? That's exactly what's happening! Don't mind the art I'm doing my best-