1. Chapter 1 (1/2)

winter

disclaimer: i don't own yggdra union. or else our fandub would be the official recording for the psp version…

the storm outside howls, gleefully heralding its evolution to full-fledged blizzard to the populace.

the castle is old. it is finely built and strong with the pride of tradition, but the icy wind finds ways to razor through the cracks in the mortar.

nessiah isn't cold. this he swears, as he has been swearing all day, and then turns his back to blow into hands so white that the delicate tracery of veins can be seen beneath their translucent skin.

he is shaking so violently that those nearby can hear the faint chime of his chains.

night is falling, meaning the temperature will drop another ten degrees or more.

nessiah's rooms are at the top of one of the castle's tallest towers.

this, gulcasa decides, is so not going to work.

---

"just until we decide how to warm up your room without burning it down," gulcasa says in that reasonable tone that makes nessiah want to hit him.

nessiah is going to refuse. it's kind of him to offer, but the cold hasn't killed him yet (and really, there are so many, many worse ways to die), and one more night up in his sparsely furnished rooms won't do the job.

"i have a fireplace," gulcasa adds with a predatory grin.

gulcasa fights dirty.

---

nessiah had minced his way up the stairs in a tempest of protests and begrudgements.

he had been rendered momentarily speechless at the sight of gulcasa's plush and very warm bed, and the fire in the grate across the room from it.