Vincent - Vyse

_{Good Bond}



It was times like these—shaking, annoyed and helplessly lost with angst that he was glad he knew when his breaking point was and when he should retreat from his friends and family. He hated being mad, but it was something he just couldn’t help. When someone disagreed with him he was liable to snap back rudely. A mere speculation of the weather could end up in a fistfight. Vyse simply just didn’t know what battles to fight and which ones to just let alone.

So now he had once again escaped to where he knew he could calm himself. The forest… it was probably the half of him that was an earth nymph that took such solace in the radiant green foliage. He was always so amazed how many shades of green nature offered. It was brilliant… simply brilliant.

Vyse let out a soft sigh, smiling gently. He was settled in one of the lowest branches of a tall oak—at least ten feet up off the ground. His back was to the rugged old tree and one leg was swinging like a pendulum over the side. He was actually marvelously calm. It may have been the sweet musical chirping of a nearby group of birds, or maybe the warm sun on his skin, but he was starting to feel like he could probably get ready to head back home soon. How long had it been? An hour…? Maybe two? Three at the most…

He heard the crunching of fallen leaves and twigs as someone began to not-so-quietly tromp through the forest nearby. Vyse turned his head lazily and a lock of his dark green hair slipped in front of his eyes. He shook it away and squinted towards the sound.

It was less than a minute that a familiar and diminutive young man came into view. It was Vincent—who seemed more interested in stopping every few moments to admire a cluster of flowers or a particularly interesting looking bush. No doubt a ‘search party’ had been sent to find Vyse… maybe it had been more than three hours. Who would have known?

“Hey Vinny,” Vyse called. Vincent jumped slightly and his eyes automatically rose to the tree line. It took him a moment to spot his younger brother in the treetops, but when he did, he smiled pleasantly to him.

“There you are, Vyse. I’ve been looking for you.” Vincent put his hand on his hip and tried hard to put on a strict face. Even as he spoke with an unwavering sternness, a grin was tugging at the end of his mouth, “You know very well, young man, that you shouldn’t just storm off like that. You have Papa very worried.”

“Sure, sure. Any excuse for you to go on a little nature hike is a blessing. So don’t give me that.” Vyse stretched his arms over his head and folded is hands behind his head, shifting into a more comfortable position.

Vincent eyed him for a moment. “Are you going to come back with me now…?”

“Nope.”

Vincent frowned and looked back in the direction he had come, one hand still on his hip. “Well…”

“Wanna better view of the place?” Vyse asked suddenly. Crimson eyes shyly rose to find the half-nymphs dark brown orbs. Vincent hesitated, unsure of what the other meant. “Come on, I’ll help you up here.” With a swinging motion that made Vincent about have a heart-attack, Vyse managed to find a way to lean over the side of the branch. His hand outstretched expectantly.

Once again, Vincent hesitated, but the beaming grin on his brothers face was hard to say no to. With a sigh and a quick prayer to the goddesses Vincent reached for the hand. It took him a few jumps until he finally got hold of his brother hand. With startling ease Vyse pulled his much smaller and lighter brother upward onto the thick branch. Vincent clawed his way up, glasses askew and his usually flawless hair a fluffy mess.

Vincent pressed his back hard against the tree trunk, chest heaving, eyes wide as he looked down at the ten foot drop and let out a shaky breath. How Vyse had managed to pull him up without toppling out of the tree himself was a mystery to him. Vyse had moved up a few branches and was doing his best to not laugh at his older brother who looked all-in-all rather disgruntled at being up in a tree. Vincent wouldn’t like to admit it himself, but he was not all together comfortable with heights.

However, he couldn’t deny how much more he could see. The view was spectacular. He could make out little nesting bright yellow birds in the treetops and even an eagle that had perched itself a top of a needless red pine that had obviously died from sort of disease. The eagle didn’t seem to mind too much and its head rotated about, sharp eyes blinking and trying to spy a potential dinner.

“Well? Like it?” Vyse asked, smirking.

“Very much, yes… Thank you.” Vincent finally reached up to fix his glasses and brush the wild locks of black from his eyes, “We’re a lot more alike than I thought, Vyse…” He looked at his little brother who tilted his head curiously at him, “I never really would have pegged you as a nature seeker… But I guess with every day you learn something new.” Vincent laughed softly and looked back towards the eagle. As he did it stretched out his magnificent wings and effortlessly seemed to glide right off the tree almost as if it had never been perched there. The only thing that gave it away was the little sway of the branch. The demon watched the mighty predator beat its wings twice and then with a slight tip of its wings to right it disappeared behind the trees. Vincent wondered where it was going to go next.

“Hey… Vincent?”

Vincent looked at his brother again, blinking questioningly, “Yes?”

“I’m almost done with the Academy… I don’t know where to go next… What I should do. Scout has it all figured out. He wants to teach… but I don’t want to do that. I can’t teach. I’m no good at any of that.” Vyse let out a little sigh, and Vincent couldn’t help but notice how helpless it sounded.

“I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised that there are more things you could do than you think.” Vincent shrugged slightly when Vyse rose his eyebrows as if to say ‘like what?’. “It’s really up to you, Vyse. What do you want to do?”

“I don’t want to be locked up anywhere… confined to some building. Seeing it over and over would bother me—no offense, Vinny,” he added quickly, remembering that his brother was a researcher at the Xidan Research Center of Medicine. “I don’t want to have to read—“ Vincent snorted with laughter and Vyse glared at him, “Don’t laugh at me! I hate reading… I don’t know how you could sit there and read books all day long. That’s…” Vyse shuddered, “really boring.”

“It’s not for everyone,” Vincent agreed, fixing his glasses absently with one finger. “You sound like you should talk to Edward. I think you two may be on the same career path.”

Vyse seemed to think for a moment, frowning thoughtfully. Edward was a very well-renowned mercenary. Come to think about it—they were very similar. Edward had never taken well to books or to studying—but he had a certain charm and allure that helped him get by. He was a master swordsmen and yet he would rather talk himself out of a fight than to actually engage… There they were a little different. Vyse had a stubborn streak that was a little dangerous, but for that profession it would probably become more of an asset than anything. Vyse liked the idea of protecting others.

“Okay,” Vyse said. He jumped from his branch, to the one Vincent was sitting on (Vincent jumped and curled back his legs in surprise) and then with little effort the green-haired man jumped to the soft grass below. He smiled up at his brother who was starting to look very nervous again. “Come on, Vinny. I’ll catch you.”

Vincent frowned anxiously, but with a resigned sigh he scooted himself over the edge. Vyse half caught him and half took the impact. With a snort of laughter he detangled himself from the other and grinned, “You okay?”

“Yes… Now let’s go home before Papa begs Uncle Ankei to send the Royal Guards to find you.”

With a chuckle and a new spring to his step, Vyse led his older brother back to the manor.

It seemed now he had a much better idea of what direction to take.


[Ramirez]

<sub>A/N:Story bond 29/81 of a project I'm working on.

Funny thing is--right now that I'm about to submit this, I just suddenly had another scenario/story bond idea for these two. LOL. I day-dreamed this up when I was coming back from Fargo... or going to Fargo... I can't remember. I wasn't driving, so it was okay.

Not sure how else to comment on this so... >>;</sub>

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