In come Scout and Vyse
Original



Snow drifted from the gray heavens, littering the small town of Flanaria in a blanket of white. Several people hurried through the snow while bundled warmly in their overly large coats and mitten clad hands that they stuffed into their pockets as they hurried along down the cobblestone sidewalks. Despite the colder temperatures, people still bustled about the quiet town, running errands and giving a seasonal greeting to neighbors while offering baked goods and warm coffee or tea to each other in the comfort of their cozy, comfortable homes.

Yami admired the little flakes of snow as they drifted from the heavens with a soft smile. The stark white coated his black hair, as if belittling its dark emulation. There was a mutual silence between Yami and Kaelin that the former broke with a barely audible whisper, “…Remind me why we haven’t been here for over fourteen years again, will you?”

The blond Elf beside him blinked his large innocent lavender eyes curiously at his husband. “Pardon, dear?” Kaelin asked, tilting his head. Yami looked to him absently, one eyebrow quirked questioningly. Kaelin offered a small smile, “I thought you said something?” The Monk continued. Yami pursed his lips in non-reply and looked back to the cobble-stone path.

“Mm…Where are the kids?” Yami said suddenly, blinking his crimson eyes. He glanced about searching for the unique blue and green-haired unofficial “twins” and frowned. It could be dangerous to leave those two unattended. “Scout?” He called, squinting at the snow-covered town, “Vyse?”

He was answered with a snowball that connected solidly with the back of his head. Yami grunted in surprise as he flailed indignity, pitching forward instinctively before he straightened. Flames of fury literally surrounding him, Yami turned a death glare to the closest individual…Which happened to be a poor innocent civilian. The man gulped in terror and hurried away down the street, glancing several times back at the half-demon as he went.

Eyebrow twitching with uncontrollable irritation, the half-demon Prince reached up to knock the snow from his hair, while beside him Kaelin laughed behind his hands. Yami gave his husband a scowl, but the Elf only started to cough in an attempt to hide his giggling. The Prince took a deep breath, trying to ease his sudden urge to find his two sons and throttle the life from them.

Yami turned about slowly, his eyes searching the alley-ways and snow-drifts. /Damned kids./ He thought. They reminded him exactly of his nephews—Jin and Shuichi. They also enjoyed pummeling their quiet, uninterested, temperamental Uncle with snow. With a suppressed shudder, Yami recalled several Christmas’ ago, long before he had twelve children, back when Jin and Shuichi were still in their teens… Yes, they had gotten the better of their Uncle… Having pummeled him with an arsenal of snow, buried him, and then proceeded to trample across him until their father, Ankei, realized that their “snow-man” had a few strands of black hair—thus realizing that underneath all that white goodness was, predictably, a very angry Yami. It had taken all his diplomatic and charismatic skills to talk Yami out of tearing the twins’ limb from limb. 

However… It was different this time. Vyse and Scout were his children. He could annihilate them back.

The softest series of giggles gave away the boys’ position and turning to face them, his eyes narrowed, Yami began to move his fingers in silent incantation. Kaelin wide-eyed, quickly snatched his hand. “Yami!” he scolded, “You be nice!”

Yami scowled at him, then grabbing the front of Kaelin’s scarf he pulled the much taller blond down so he whisper in his ear, “You’ve got to show them who’s the alpha male here. You know how boys are… Arrogant-self-centered brats. If they think they can get away with hitting me with their ignorantly packed snow balls, then they’re about to find out how insignificant they really are.” The half-demon hissed.

Kaelin blinked and then raised his hands up in a manner of non-violence. “Honey, just don’t hurt them.” He sighed, and peeled away Yami’s gloved hand from his scarf and straightened it with a soft scowl. The peaceful Monk wouldn’t ever understand these little acts of defiance that Yami constantly and assuredly reminded Kaelin he “had” to do.

Yami smirked, turned and flicked his fingers in the last silent symbol of the incantation. The building that the two were hiding in front of seemed to shudder ever so slightly—and the three feet of snow that had packed itself onto of the building shifted—and slid. The two half-nymphs squeaked and began to bolt away from their hiding spot but both were engulfed in the mini-avalanche. Scouts hand twitched just above the snow as Vyse burst from the surface gasping for air and shivering.

“Excellent!” The green-haired half-nymph gasped, flashing his father a charismatic grin that wasn’t returned with as much enthusiasm. Vyse struggled to get out of the snow then looking at his brothers flailing hand he chuckled and reached over, tugging at it until Scout was able to free himself.

Likewise, the blue-haired fifteen year old gasped for air, brushing the snow from his aqua locks and staring wide-eyed at the youngest prince of Aurora. “That was one hell of a snow-ball.” The teenager said.

Yami chuckled darkly; while beside him Kaelin sighed and then worriedly made his way towards their two sons. The healer helped the two from the massive pile while townspeople nearby gawked and glanced fearfully at the still cackling prince.

“Are you all right, boys?” Kaelin sighed, brushing snow from Scouts’ clothes. Scout, likewise brushed the snow from his pants and nodded, laughing along with his brother who stood with one hand on his hip and a calculating look at Yami, as if contemplating his next snow-ball attack.

“You won’t ever win.” Yami said ominously, lifting his chin slightly in defiance at the green-haired youth.

Vyse pursed his lips, and then grinned while brushing back a few stray locks of green hair that had become mused from the snowy avalanche. “We’ll see.” The fifteen-year old said. “There’s two of us and one of you.” He said and the playfulness was evident in his voice.

Yami smirked, “I have a couple thousands years of experience under my belt, kid.”

Vyse, shrugged in non-reply and Kaelin, sighing, ushered the two boys back to Yami who eyed the “twins” suspiciously.

“Truce for me.” Scout said, rubbing his hands against his arms in attempt to give warmth to his numb limbs. “I’m freezing.”

Kaelin made a few distressed noises and then glared at Yami. “Let’s go to Bella Inn then and warm up. Hmm?” He said while ushering the three into the nearby inn without waiting for a reply. They were greeted by stares from the occupants. Though quickly enough, they smiled and waved warmly upon seeing Kaelin who had grown up in the town. Scout and Vyse grinned and waved enthusiastically to the townspeople as Yami looked away, completely ignoring the strangers. The four made their way to a booth and Kaelin and Yami took one side as Scout and Vyse took the other.

“So, Papa, when do we get to Nanas and Grandpas?” Scout said, lying partly on the table with his chin resting on it as he began to absently take apart a napkin holder. Vyse watched him in mild fascination.

“Hmm… Well, if we walk it’ll be a few hours or so—“ Yami made a noise of displeasure, but Kaelin ignored him, continuing, “But if we take a carriage it’ll only be a half-hour or so.”

“Why don’t we teleport?” Scout said, setting apart the pieces of the silver napkin dispenser and looking at them with an air of boredom. He frowned somewhat and began to reassemble the simple device.

“Because we’re having family time.” Kaelin said, frowning and sounding hurt by the mere thought of using teleportation. “Besides, you two can hardly teleport correctly to an area a few feet away.” The blond pouted, “And I never learned how.” He looked to Yami who was leaning with on arm on the table with his face resting in his palm completely ignoring his family. “We’re…having family time.” Kaelin said again, kicking Yami under the table in a violent attempt to bring him into the conversation.

“We have plenty of family time.” Vyse argued. “Besides it’s cold outside.”

“He has a point.” Yami muttered quietly, sending his husband a dark look as he rubbed his leg underneath the table. Kaelin looked anguished. Yami felt his eyebrow twitch involuntarily and he looked away crossing his arms and sinking into the seat. “But, I guess it’s not that cold.”

Scout sneezed, and the sneeze took him by surprise. He dropped the napkin dispenser and it clanked loudly on the table. He made a miserable noise and brushed his sleeve against his nose. Kaelin leaned forward tilting his head back and forth worriedly then reached out to feel his sons’ forehead.

“Are you getting sick, Scout, honey?” The monk asked. He continued to possessively feel for a temperature until Scout smacked his hands away muttering darkly. Kaelin sat back with a frustrated sigh and then turned his scowling face to his husband who was lying back with his eyes closed, dozing. “This is your fault.” The blond huffed. Yami continued to doze off silently and made no effort to show he was listening. “Yami!” The blond squeaked, smacking him across the shoulder. Yami jerked up, blinking his eyes sleepily, his unvoiced question of ‘what’ nearly audible on his face. “You shouldn’t have gotten them wet with that snow.” Kaelin huffed.

“They shouldn’t have hit initiated a battle by throwing snow at me first.” The other replied annoyed.

“Point.” Vyse and Scout voiced together. Kaelin sighed harshly. “It’s all right, Papa.” The former said. He prodded Yami across the table. “We’ll get him back.” He said grinning. Yami stared at him blankly. Scout sneezed again and the three of them looked at the aqua-haired half-nymph.

“I blame my human side.” Scout said sniffing loudly. “…Can I have something hot to drink?”

“Oh! Heavens, yes!” Kaelin said jumping to his feet and racing out towards the bar. The three stared after him, until Kaelin hurried back a moment later, sheepishly. “...What would you like, kids? Yami?”

“Papa, they have waitresses, you know. Sit down.” Vyse said, looking annoyed. “You’re making a scene.”

Kaelin sat down, folding his hands and looking to Scout who blinked at him. Kaelin made a noise and shifted uncomfortably, looking for one of the waitresses. When she finally spotted his possessively pleading stare she came over smiling brightly.

“What can I get for you, strangers?” She asked.

“Hot chocolate.” Scout said as he sniffed indignantly.

“Make that two.” Vyse piped, saluting.

“I’ll have tea, hun.” Kaelin said, smiling pleasantly.

“And…for you, sir?” She said turning to Yami who seemed to find the napkin dispenser that Scout had ‘upgraded’ (he had purposefully reassembled the device to where it now angled sharply to one side while somehow balancing precariously on one corner) much more interesting then the young blonde lady. There was a silence until Kaelin elbowed him stiffly.

“What?” Yami muttered, glaring, and then turned his scowl to the woman. “Oh…tea… thanks.”

The woman smiled, “I’ll be just a moment.” She said, then turned and disappeared off into the crowded room. There was an uncomfortable silence as the two teenagers and Kaelin stared at Yami. Finally the half-demon glared back and when he was about to retort at their impolite stares, the waitress returned with their drinks and after a moment hesitation, due to their obvious discomfort between the four she smiled uneasily and retreated from their table.

“What?” Yami finally hissed, glowering at his family. “What in the nine-hells do you want?”

“Why do you keep ignoring us?” Kaelin asked, scowling cutely. “We’re here for family time.” The monk said, emphasizing the last bit with an air of exasperation. “The least you could do is at least look at us.”

Yami shifted in his seat with his back to the wall, crossing his arms and looking pointedly between the three. “Well?” He questioned, both eyebrows raised expectantly. Kaelin looked like he was ready to backhand the sarcastic half-demon, while Scout and Vyse laughed together. With a frustrated sigh, Kaelin turned away sipping his tea virtually ignoring the dark-haired man after just demanding his attention.

“So, Scout, honey, are you feeling better?” The blond asked sweetly.

“Yes, Papa.” Scout said with a sigh. He rolled his eyes. “But, you’re not bringing me into your little fight, Papa. I’m not playing little creature in the middle.”

“Hey…wait a minute.” Vyse said, leaning forward suddenly. He looked from one parent to the next. “…Isn’t this the town where you adopted me and Scout from?”

Kaelin choked on the tea he was sipping and spilt an unpleasant amount on his hand and their table. Coughing, he set the cup down and reached for a napkin. A look of confusion crossed his face upon seeing Scouts new addition to the holder, but he quickly shook his head and grabbed a handful of napkins and began mopping up the little mess. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Kaelin said matter-of-factly.

“Your reaction was a bit much.” Yami said sardonically.

Kaelin ignored him, but Vyse continued. “Yeah, I mean… I heard you saying something awhile ago about how you adopted me and Scout somewhere here in this city…” He looked at Scout who was frowning curiously at him. “…Does that mean our biological parents are in this city somewhere?”

Kaelin’s mouth worked to form words, but he managed to only make a few incoherent noises. The ‘twins’ frowned at him. “What’s wrong?” Scout asked, his eyes narrowed suspiciously.

The Monk turned to Yami quickly, eyes lavender eyes wide and pleading. Yami titled his head, “What, you want to talk to me now?” The half-demon asked dryly. “I don’t see anything wrong with telling them.”

“Telling us what?” Scout ventured, his hands wringing nervously around his warm mug of hot chocolate.

Yami stared quietly at Kaelin for a moment, but the Elf finally sighed with defeat and crossed his fingers in his lap while staring down at them silently. Yami took this as his a hint that he could continue. “Well… we didn’t exactly ‘officially’ adopt you.” Yami said flatly, looking to the two boys.

“Huh?”

“What?” The two said at the same time.

“…Yes…well… It’s not a bad thing, really. You obviously weren’t being cared for—“

“Yami!” Kaelin gasped in disbelief, hitting him (though Yami could barely feel it) across the arm. “We don’t know that!”

“Well, they sure in hell didn’t come looking for them, did they?” Yami shot back, annoyed.

“What do you mean?” Vyse asked, blinking his dark brown eyes curiously.

Kaelin sighed… and began to recollect his memories of that night, fourteen years ago.


The wind was howling unwholesomely, and the frigid temperatures and malevolent blizzard only added to the unwelcoming weather. Yami had his hand clasped tightly around Kaelin’s and the two stumbled through the knee high snow, attempting to make their way towards the closest home. The trouble was—they quite literally could see nothing but white-washed emptiness.

The storm had taken them by surprise. Only moments earlier it had been calm—with gray skies, yes, but that was expected during this time of the year... The fact that the storm had abruptly began while leaving the two nearly stranded even with the closest building only a dozen or so yards away was a mere inconvenience that the Goddesses’ seemed unconcerned with. Still clutching his husbands hand possessively Yami reached out with the other hand, feeling for anything that could give them some form of protection from the storm.

His hand eventually found the solid form of a large oak tree. Cursing softly to himself with the realization that they were several precarious yards away from a nearby building still, Yami pulled the blond with him into the tiny cluster of trees. It offered them mild protection from the wind and snow, and now the two could actually speak without having to scream into the wind.

“Are you all right, Kaelin?” Yami asked quietly, reaching out to knock the several inches of snow forming on his husbands’ coat.

“Oh, Yami, I’m so sorry about this weather. I’ve never seen it do this before.” The Elf apologized, and reached over to fix Yami’s scarf and hoodie. He tucked the half-demons hair neatly back into the hood and offered a sympathetic smile. “I’m sorry, hun.”

“You don’t control this awful weather, love.” Yami said softly. He had the sudden urge to reach up and pull his lover into a fierce kiss, but he resisted the silly notion. Even if the blond looked absolutely stunningly beautiful with all the snow framing his cute face. “Though, we really do need to get to shelter before we freeze to—“ He had begun to take a few steps back and glance about their tiny shelter when a soft whimper caused him to jump. Yami turned about fully; crimson eyes wide and one hand out as if ready to cast a hurried spell. Upon seeing no one his brow furrowed and his gaze dropped… On the ground two young children huddled together, shivering violently. Yami swore softly and tugged at Kaelin’s sleeve. The blond swiveled about and upon seeing the scantily clad children gasped, horrified.

The two men looked to each other wordlessly, and together they stooped down to pick up a child each. Kaelin picked up the smaller of the two, who had a head full of light blue hair. The boy was shivering, and crying quietly as his little hands reached out to the other boy who Yami now held. The other boy had a curious head of green locks, and he had a fierce look on his childish face, glancing desperately between the blue-haired boy and the man holding him, as if being separated from the other boy was causing him severe emotional distress.

“Where are your parents, little one?” Yami asked quietly, pulling the boy into his overly large coat and holding him against himself, offering the trembling boy some warmth. Kaelin was doing the same as he tried to comfort the sobbing child...

“—Wait, wait.” Vyse said, waving one hand in the air. “You…found us? Abandoned?”

“Yes…That seems to be the case.” Kaelin said wearily, as if ashamed he had to reveal this to the two boys whom had secretly fantasized that their biological parents had heroically handed over their children in hopes of giving them a better life.

The two boys seemed to be handling the revelation differently. Vyse sat stiffly, his hands clenching and unclenching over the table, and his face was contorted with a look of pure rage, and it was apparent he was grinding his teeth as if biting back a rant of fury.

Scout, however, sat quietly, his face downcast, and his aqua bangs fell across his pale face delicately. His arms were crossed in front of him and he was leaning against the table, silent, wordlessly waiting for Kaelin to continue. When the blond didn’t, Scout raised his brilliantly bright blue eyes to look from Yami to Kaelin and back again. Deciding that the half-demon would be more honest with them, he addressed him instead. “What happened next?” He asked quietly.

“Well…” Yami started, uneasily. “To be short and honest, we took you both to the closest shelter, waited out the storm and then spent the next week looking for some evidence of your parents. Then after coming to the conclusion that you were not related, we simply decided that it was obvious you had been abandoned, probably by the nearby village of Shiea, which is a Nymph village. Since you were,” The half-demon made a face while using his fingers as emphasizes for quotations, “ ‘half-breeds’ they probably decided that you had dirty blood and left you in a nearby village. I imagine they never intended for you to be caught in that blizzard, but luckily Kaelin and I had been there.”

“Why would someone just abandon their children?” Vyse snarled, “We were just kids.”

“Yes…but you must understand that the Nymphs are quite literally, a secluded race. It’s blasphemy in their eyes to breed with some thing other then their own race.” Yami continued, frowning. “I would imagine that after a year or so, you two began to show signs of being half-Nymphs. Your true parents must have realized this, and not wanting their own lives, and most likely, yours, to be in danger; left you in a village they were sure would have hospitable people. Flanaria is a very religious town.”

“It doesn’t matter why they left us.” Scout said quietly.

“Of course it matters!” Vyse yelled angrily, turning to his brother, outraged. “How could you say that?”

“Because, we can’t even remember it.” Scout said, glaring at him. “So, why should it matter?”

“We could have died!” the green-haired fifteen year old protested.

“But we didn’t.” Scout retorted, sounding annoyed. “So, let’s just forget about it.”

“You’re stupid.” Vyse finally said with a frustrated sigh, and then he stood up, fixing his clothes and smoothing back his green hair. He gave one more smoldering look to his brother then turned away.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Yami asked, one eyebrow raised.

“Leave me the hell alone.” Vyse hissed back, storming away.

Yami sighed, dropping his chin into one upraised hand. The door slammed, signifying that the half-nymph had indeed left. “We’ll never get to your parents house at his rate, Kaelin.”

Kaelin sighed harshly at his husband, rolling his eyes, and then reached across the table to put his hands over one of Scouts, “Honey… Why don’t you talk to your brother?”

“I don’t want to talk to him.” Scout replied simply.

“But…”

“He wants to be left alone. He said so.” Scout continued, looking out the window indifferently.

“But…” Kaelin said again, blinking with surprise. “You always can make Vyse feel better.”

“I don’t feel like talking to him. He’s being stupid and annoying.” Scout said, pulling his hand away and sitting back with his arms closed. “If he wants to be a little brat, then let him. He’ll come back when he feels like it.”

“But… I’m worried.” Kaelin muttered, his hand coming to his mouth as his eyes widened further. “What if he gets lost? Or it starts to blizzard?”

Yami sighed, “He’s a big boy, he’ll take good care of himself.”

“He’s fifteen!”

“I was eleven when I went on my first little escapade alone.” Yami said, shrugging.

Kaelin glared, “You’re not helping, dear.”

“My apologizes, love.” Yami replied. Kaelin twitched with annoyance and looked like he was about to protest, but Yami cut him off, “For the goddesses’ sake, Kaelin, he’ll be fine. He’ll realize he’s cold, realize he’s upset Scout, and then he’ll get flustered, angry again, then come back.”

“Says the one who’s an expert with psychology, right?” Kaelin retorted flatly.

“No. I just know Vyse. Once he realizes that Scout’s upset, he’ll get panicked and come back to comfort him. He hates seeing Scout upset,” said Yami.

“I’m not upset.” Scout said flatly.

“Denial.” Yami said in a sing-song voice. Scout glared at him, but it only caused Yami to chuckle. “Look, Vyse is a temperamental know-it-all and you’re an antagonistic optimist. However, as you two grew up, Vyse has always been overly concerned with how you were. Once when you were little, you tripped and scraped your knee. Vyse had a huge panic attack. It…was actually quite comical.”

“It was not funny!” Kaelin said, wide-eyed. “How could you say that?”

“…Because Scout had stopped crying and Vyse was still fussing over the scrape. It… reminded me a lot of Ankei and I when we were kids. Ankei was always looking out for me.” Yami stopped, blinking his eyes several times. He smiled, embarrassed. “I don’t mean to get all nostalgic…”

“No, it’s fine, dad.” Scout said, sighing. “But… you’re probably right… Vyse’ll be back.” He glanced nervously out the window, watching the flakes of snow drift past it. “…He doesn’t like the snow much more than I do.”

There was a long stretch of silence, that lasted perhaps five minutes or so, until a loud bang from the tavern door averted the attention. Vyse stood at the door, looking somewhat panicked, until he forced a nonchalant, unconcerned frown and made his way back to his family. He stood with his hands in his coat pockets, staring off to his right as if he was completely ignoring the people he had just come back to.

“…Well… Should we get walking towards your parents’ house then?” Yami asked, looking to his husband. Kaelin, smiling brightly nodded. “Well… It’s settled then.” Yami said, standing up and then fishing into his pockets until he placed a generous amount of money on the table. He offered Kaelin his hand, who took it with a little giggle, and the two began to talk animatedly on their way out of the tavern.

Vyse stood awkwardly, glancing at his brother who slid out of the booth and stood, fixing his coat absently. The green-haired teenager opened his mouth to say something, but Scout cut him off, “Just forget about it.”

Vyse stared worriedly at him, as if he was struggling to reply, but couldn’t. He ran his hands through his slicked back hair and sighed harshly. “Scout… I…”

“It’s fine, Vyse.” Scout said, throwing his arm around his taller brothers’ shoulders. Grinning fiercely Scout balled up his fist and mussed his brothers’ carefully groomed hair. Vyse flailed, letting out a cry of protest until breaking free. Scout, cackling with glee fled out the door, his annoyed ‘twin’ close behind. Yami and Kaelin narrowly dodged the two teenagers, the latter only surviving from his husbands’ quick reflexes. Yami wrenched the tall blond out of the teenagers’ path, and stared wordlessly after the two laughing boys. He smirked slightly, and looked up into Kaelin’s bright lavender eyes…

…then was hit dead on in the face by a snow ball.

Yamis’ eyebrow twitched violently, and he slowly turned his head towards the fleeting laughing forms of his sons. Snarling, Yami cracked his knuckles and stomped after them, yelling obscenities.

Kaelin stood, laughing into his hands. Straightening, he pushed back his long, lovely golden lock and it was then that he knew all was forgiven.

[Ramirez]



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