Chapter Text
The explosion of pink dust caught both Xander and Ryoma by surprise, right before Xander's horse threw him off in fright and high tailed straight out the battlefield.
"Xander!!!" Elise cried out as her brother landed on his back, which knocked the wind of out him despite his armour. "I'll go get help!!!" She was off the battlefield as fast as her horse could take her, followed by Camilla, whose wyvern would have only made thing worse had she attempted a rescue.
"Me too!!!" came Sakura's voice as she climbed behind her sister on her pegasus, taking off to go get reinforcements, not caring that she had basically agreed with a Nohrian. The situation was dire.
For an agonizing minute, Xander laid there, unable to move; unable to breathe. He knew Ryoma was right there, thanks to his coughing, and knew he would be getting ready to land the killing blow if he didn't recover quickly and crawl out of the spore cloud. He could hear Leo shouting at him, but the feeling of constriction in his chest was the only thing his attention would focus on.
The sacred blade of the Hoshidan prince missed his head by a mere inch, just before the prince himself landed on top of him, snarling even as he crushed his mouth against Xander's in a mockery of a kiss.
"You planted this here, Nohrian scum!" Ryoma spat at him even as his fingers ran over Xander's armour, looking for clasps to undo to get to his skin.
"You... really think I'd step... into my own trap?" Xander panted back, catching his breath, breathing in more of the spores surrounding them despite his best efforts to cover his nose and mouth. "It's a Hoshidan fungus anyway!" he barely had time to wheeze out before Ryoma was knocking his breastplate aside and tearing the clothes underneath.
"Liar! Only a prince of Nohr would use such a underhanded attack," Ryoma growled as he tossed Xander's shirt over his shoulder. "You have no shame," he hissed as he grabbed Xander by the throat before kissing him hard, plunging his tongue into his enemy's mouth.
Finally able to breathe normally, Xander grabbed Ryoma by the hair and yanked him closer, groaning as his tongue fought back against the intrusion. As much as it disgusted him, the fire in his lungs, in his head, in his loins, was in control of his and Ryoma's actions, but he was not about to let the Hoshidan prince have the upper hand in this.
"Get your filthy hands off my brother!!!" Leo howled, dark magic energy gathering around him as he stood in his stirrups to attack the Hoshidan prince. His concentration was broken before he could cast, however, by an arrow to the shoulder courtesy of another Hoshidan princeling.
"If you lay even a finger on my brother, Nohrian scum, I will turn your head into a pincushion!!!" Takumi warned as he grabbed another arrow from his quiver and took aim at Leo.
"Gods!!!"
Under the horrified gaze of their siblings unable to help them without risking life, limb and sanity, they continued kissing with great force even as they fought, neither wanting to yield for the other. The fire inside them continued to grow in intensity as they breathed more and more spores in, irrationally refusing to leave the contaminated area. They were vaguely aware of screams from the battlefield, barely acknowledging the voices as belonging to Leo of Nohr and Takumi of Hoshido, unable to focus on anything but the devouring heat that was only soothed by the physical contact of another warm body.
Soon, they were both naked, partly by their own hands but mostly by the other's, their hypersensitive skin unable to tolerate armour or clothing any longer. The pink dust clung to their sweaty skin, giving the princes a rosy hue all over even as they struggled for dominance over the other. They looked ridiculous, they knew it well; but to their great shame, they could not separate without the searing pain in their whole body getting unbearable.
A thrust of Ryoma's hips made their cocks align and rub against the other, making Xander inhale sharply. "Surrender, Hoshidan, or else I—"
"Or else what, Nohrian?" Ryoma growled back despite becoming light-headed from the friction of Xander's whole body against his own and from his heart beating too fast, too hard. "You'll kiss me again?" He pre-empted the attack by kissing Xander first, clinging to the other's head. The sweet taste of the pink coating the inside of Xander's wet mouth was sickening by now, and yet, he still craved it, licking it off the inside of his cheeks and the roof of his mouth.
Xander leaned toward Ryoma when the latter broke the kiss, sporting a grimace despite looking for all the world like he wanted more. "I refuse to die with you like this!"
"So do I!" Ryoma shouted right back at him despite his heart slamming against his ribcage. He knew all too well that this terrible fungus could kill with ease by making the heart explode, and the terror in the back of his mind at the idea was not helping anything. But he refused to back down in front of his sworn enemy. He would not be the weak one.
"Brother!!!" Sakura cried out as she ran back onto the field, followed by a small army of experienced Wind mages. This battlefield being closer to Hoshido, they had reinforcement closer than the Nohrians did. "We'll rescue you!!!"
As much as his body refused to be separated from Xander, Ryoma felt great relief flood over him as the mages dispersed the spores. It didn't heal him nor quench the fire inside of him, but it gave him just enough clarity to inch toward the rescue party with Xander in tow.
"Oh no you will not!!!" Leo charged up his magic again. Takumi, however, was already locked and loaded. The arrow narrowly missed Leo's head, and more soldiers were rushing in to aid Takumi. Leo would have given his life for his siblings, but dying here would have only been a waste of his life in a hopeless battle. "This is not over yet!" he threatened as he kicked in horse into a gallop toward the nearest Nohrian outpost.
Takumi grimaced at the sight of his naked brother, with pink and dirt smeared all over him, barely able to crawl in his direction, dragging his enemy along like a child drags his favourite toy around. He raised his bow again. Not nearly enough Nohrian blood had been spilled to avenge the humiliation endured by Ryoma yet. "Brother! Leave that Nohrian scum to die! He doesn't deserve any help!"
"Stand down, Takumi!" Ryoma wheezed, clutching at his chest. "We can use—" He didn't get to finish before collapsing half on top of Xander. The last thing he heard was Sakura screaming.