Nine Tails of Twin Brothers

The agreement

Ye Hua was worried and confused, his brother had not said anything since he said they needed to talk in the most emotional tone he'd ever heard from him. He hadn't even stopped to tell the host family they were leaving; good thing they had paid their respects to the couple before the discussion or they might not have done it at all. He sighed as he took off his outer robe in the borrowed room at Zhe Yan's house where the twins would be based for the next few weeks so Mo Yuan could ease into the world in a place full of spiritual energy but not so far that Ye Hua had to spend a lot of time travelling when he needed to leave his brother for official duties that had to be done in person; the peach blossoms forest met the needs of both brothers so they had asked Zhe Yan for permission to stay in his home while he traveled with his new groom, the Phoenix had agreed. For Ye Hua, there was the added advantage of being in Qing Qiu and close to Bai Qian; he planned to take advantage of the closeness and his flexible schedule which he had claimed to be needed to allow him care for his brother to get close to the fox and woo her.

He did not find Mo Yuan in the main living area, nor in his room nor in the kitchen; not that he expected to see his twin, the venerated god of war in the kitchen. Mo Yuan was not the handy type; although he could make his way around the kitchen and he had more than one signature dish, he would not go into the kitchen without a reason. Ye Hua sighed as he began to wander around their borrowed home, he had no idea what happened to change Mo Yuan's emotional state so quickly and for the worse but he wanted to get to the bottom of the matter.

He found the older twin in the cellar, surrounded by 3 empty jars of wine while he drank from a fourth one. Mo Yuan did not look up when he came in.

"Da ge, what is the matter?" Ye Hua asked sitting on the ground across from his brother.

Mo Yuan looked at his twin and sighed about the cruelty of fate. Ye Hua deserved to be happy, he wanted his little brother to be happy. In most occasions, he would do whatever was necessary to ensure his brother's happiness; he'd even fought death for a chance to come back and protect said brother's happiness. But fate was making him chose between his two reasons for living, he'd come back for both of them and now, he was certain there was no way he could have both. Ye Hua was like him, he loved completely and entirely; which their father had always told him was a good thing except how could both of them, arguably the most powerful individuals and the only immortal twins, sons of the father of gods fall in love with the same woman. It was a cruel and unfair fate.

"Fate is cruel, Ye Hua. She is really cruel" Mo Yuan said.

"Why do you say so?" Ye Hua asked, his face showing no surprise or really any emotion.

Mo Yuan reached behind, grabbed another jar of wine and offered it to his brother who sat still, staring at back at him and made no move to take the jar.

Stubborn Mo Yuan thought with a smile. 'Didi, remember when I told you there was someone in my heart?" He asked.

"Yes, are..."

"That person is my only female disciple" Mo Yuan said, interrupting whatever his brother was about to ask or say.

"That...." Ye Hua began as realization sank in. He stared at his brother then took the wine which was still held out to him and emptied it down his throat.

"How cruel the fates really are" Mo Yuan muttered again as he drank from his own jar.

"How...What...Wh..." Ye Hua murmured looking at his brother. "But..."

Mo Yuan watched him struggle through thought after thought without stringing together full words much less an entire sentence. After a while Ye Hua stood up, grabbed another jar of wine and plopped himself down silently beside his brother.

"We are screwed." Ye Hua finally said in a half whisper.

"Royally" his brother replied.

"what do we do?"

"I can't give her up. I would do anything for you, really anything but this one thing I cannot do"

"But ..."

"And I cannot in good conscience ask you to give her up" Mo Yuan finished, his voice was hoarse but his face had a faint hopeful glint.

"Dage, I love you but I cannot give her up either"

Both men sighed at the same time then smiled at each other as they usually did when that happened.

"I guess, we're going to have to let her be the judge" Mo Yuan said.

"I can live with anything as long as it's her choice and I still have you" Ye Hua replied and Mo Yuan nodded.

"You realize this means I will not be guiding you on this journey" Mo Yuan said.

"It's okay. I figured I would have been the one guiding you given how long you've lived without falling in love" his brother retorted.

"imp" Mo Yuan murmured under his breath but smiled anyway. They would both never be completely happy regardless of who ends up winning the heart of their love but they would always be brothers even if their relationship was about to undergo the most strain it had ever dealt with. He was confident, they would be close, eventually.

"Dage, we have to agree that no matter what, we will remain as brothers"

"Agreed. And we will do nothing to jeopardize the other's efforts"

"Agreed. We will not sacrifice our efforts or our chance for the other"

"Agreed. We will put our happiness first and not let anyone tell us otherwise"

They both nodded.

"Dage, what if she ends up with a totally different person?" Ye Hua asked dropping his head on his brother's shoulder.

"As long as she's happy" his brother replied.

They both snorted and tried not to choke on their wine in the midst of their laughter.