Will's voice echoed right into Alexander's ears. “I know you're in pain but I don't think traveling to some fringe...”

They had been bickering like kittens in the kitchen of Alexander's father's estate, curled in a bunch of nice sofas with a free-standing iron stove in the center of them, radiating soft warmth from the fire inside to keep them warm.

Alexander cut into his brother's words as soon as he started to trail off. “No, you don't know!” He argued back in a stubborn voice that was tired from their long conversation. He finally had the energy to raise his voice. He scoffed. “All you know is the happiness you're in. You can say anything you like, whenever you want. Not me! I'm barred from the simplest happiness.” He kicked a pillow at Will, who caught it and tossed it back. When Alexander caught it, he hugged it close to bury his face in. A weak, muffled voice came from behind the stuffing. “I'm tired of saying kind words that...the people I want to hear it the most, can't. And they can't even hear it if I try to have the message sent around so it doesn't come from me.” He sighed, curling into a ball over the pillow. “I can't stay like this, Will. The slightest chance of the curse being lifted, even from some fringe far out, shrine... I have to try it.”

“And if it doesn't get answered, that particular shrine's god is known to eat your soul, Alexander.” Will threw another pillow at the blond. After it bounced off his head and fell to his side, Will continued lecturing him. “You'd be throwing your life away. It's the same as suicide! Your whole family loves you!”

Quietly listening, Alexander uncurled to fetch the pillow from the floor. He turned it over a few times in his hands. When Will finished speaking, again the blond sighed. “But you can't hear how I feel. No one can that I really love. I can't go through life like this, Will. Even... Even if I'm rejected by the person I love most in the world, at least I'll have summoned up the courage to tell them how I feel about them. And they'll hear it.”

Falling back into the cushions with his right hand over his eyes, Will released an exasperated sigh. “You're assumption that no one can fall in love with you if all you can say are cruel words to them instead of sweet ones is just... It's heart-breaking.”

“That's what I have right now. A broken heart.” Alexander snuggled his face back into the first pillow so hard he fell into the cushions face-first. “Please. I know my Mother will agree to let me go if you do.”

“Like she'll listen to me.” Will scoffed.

“Father will.” That caused the brother pause. “Please?”