Disclaimer – ½ Prince and all of the characters—aside from my OC's—belong to Yu Wo

A Dark Wind – Yes, that little thing about the cities' names actually is in the novels, although it always seems to be sunny in the manhua. :P I didn't make it up, I swear!

To quote Prince's description of Star City in volume one, chapter three: "It really was a beautiful city, with its quaint European-styled streets and buildings, and the star-studded sky overhead."

And also the moment when Prince was drunkenly sparring with Nan Gong Zui and Kong Kong during volume three, chapter two: "The three of us staggered along the moonlight-flooded street…Bathed in the clear, icy moonlight, hearing only the delightful sound of my Black Dao whistling through the air, I felt euphoric and a smile crept onto my face, growing wider and wider. The moonlight, the blade, the slender, flitting figure, and the arrogant yet refined laugh – which only an elf could be capable of – wove together into an achingly beautiful melody which echoed throughout the rustic Moon City."

I can't recall any right off-hand about Sun City, but there might be one somewhere. lol And yes, it is a very cool idea. Yu Wo seems to be full of those, hehe.

By the way, reading that Moon City quote, doesn't it seem like when Prince is drunk, he channels Gui's bard side? xD

My first reaction to seeing Gui again was simple happiness. After all, I'd finally been reunited with my prodigal brother after eleven long years. I'd hoped all the while he'd been missing that he was living the way he wanted to at last, out from under our father's relentless iron fist. Though I was still caught underneath, that thought had been enough to keep my spirits up for quite some time. I was very relieved to see he really was alive and well, and surrounded by friends, at that.

My second reaction was confusion. Seeing how he interacted with said friends was not at all what I had expected. In the eleven years he'd been gone, just what had happened to him—my incredibly intelligent brother—to make him act the way he was? Certainly, he used to be rather unpredictable and, at times, just plain weird, but it was like he was another person entirely. Then again, we were in Second Life—the game where everyone had the chance to be whoever and whatever they wanted, regardless of who and what they were in reality.

My third reaction was shock. Discovering his infatuation with Prince was, to put it lightly, extremely surprising. My beloved brother had become a masochistic homosexual and didn't seem to find it strange in the slightest. In fact, none of his teammates thought his abnormal behavior was anything but normal. The respectable, scholarly image I'd had of the older brother I looked up to so much was steadily being demolished the longer I observed him.

As I stepped alongside the team while we headed toward the mountain range near Star City, I watched in slight disgust while my brother romped across the rocky ground, chasing Prince like a maniac and yelling random, embarrassing-sounding things.

Perhaps I was then slipping into my fourth reaction; denial. That ridiculous person couldn't possibly be my brother. It was just someone who looked like him. My brother would never do something like that. And if it really was him—sadly, I knew without a doubt that it was, although I didn't quite want to admit it—what in the world had made such a drastic change in him? Actually, I supposed the reason was a who rather than a what.

My gaze drifted to Prince and I angrily narrowed my eyes, deciding that I didn't like him and for an entirely different reason than the Meatbun Incident.

He hit Gui a lot, almost to death at times. It made the punch-to-the-face he'd given me earlier in Star City's marketplace seem like a friendly little pat on the cheek. And while the reason for Prince's angry outbursts was completely and painfully obvious, that must have been why Gui was acting like a lunatic. Head trauma. Brain damage. Some other horrible injury that muddled up his brilliant mind. But this was just a game, it was impossible for him to get a long-lasting problem from an injury, no matter how extensive. He'd simply heal in a matter of minutes. Especially with a priest around.

Whichever way it was, I was feeling thoroughly dissatisfied with the situation. Especially since Gui's teammate, Lolidragon, seemed to have no respect for anyone's personal boundaries. She'd been inspecting me as closely as she could ever since we'd left the city. Plus that bun had decided to once again uninvitedly take up residence on the top of my head, after loudly declaring that he liked hanging around Dib.

"I…" Lolidragon said after a very long moment of staring at me as we walked along. Her forehead scrunched up in a way that made it look like she was thinking very hard. "I can't understand it! It's just so weird!"

"Well, I apologize for being weird," I mumbled in reply, taking a few steps to one side to widen the distance between us. I refrained from telling her that I wasn't the weird one in this particular situation. While I supposed I was very different from the average "normal" person, I was fairly certain that I was one of the most normal people in that group. Everyone else seemed to have some bizarre trait or another. Several of them.

"But…seeing someone who looks almost identical to Gui being so…so calm and reserved! It's not normal!" she yelled, ignoring my attempts to get away from her and once again sidling up to my side, far too close for comfort. "Hey, Dib!" she called upward.

I felt Dib turn toward her as his conversation with the bun was cut off. "Yeah?"

Lolidragon jabbed a finger at me and frowned. "Is Aeolus always so, well, not-Gui-like?"

Dib laughed at her words and patted the top of my head. "He's the quietest person I've ever met. Barely ever says anything unless I force him to, especially in real life. Pretty mean and blunt when he does talk, though.

"By the way, Al," he continued, tugging lightly on a bit of my hair. "I know I said you should express yourself more, but please, don't become like that person. That'd be horrible, in so many ways."

"As if I would ever behave like that," I said quietly, wondering why he would even say such a thing. My mouth automatically turned downward as I watched Gui fly through the air after Prince punched him yet again. He picked himself up after a moment and gleefully laughed as if the fall had tickled. An urge to drag him away from the violent elf was growing with each passing moment

"Why does that boy feel it necessary to constantly hit my brother?" I asked, turning slightly toward Lolidragon.

She shrugged and looked amused. "That's just what they do."

"Always?" My face paled slightly at the thought of my poor brother being perpetually pulverized.

"Prince has been beating Gui up from the moment they first met each other," Lolidragon confirmed with a nostalgic sigh.

"And you have never thought to stop them?" I continued, raising an eyebrow at her in disbelief. Forget trying to protect my brother from Prince, wouldn't two people constantly fighting get annoying after a while?

"Why would we?" Lolidragon snorted and waved at hand in the pair's direction. "They're obviously both having so much fun. I think trying to intervene would be more cruel than letting them do what they want."

Shaking my head slightly, I continued on in silence. It certainly did seem as though they were enjoying themselves in some bizarre way, regardless of their violent activities. I still didn't like it, though. Perhaps it was simply the naturally protective bond between siblings, but every time Prince hit Gui, my own fist curled around itself in a want to strike the elf in return. Even if no one else seemed to care that Gui was being used as a punching bag, I did. Very much so.

"Are you and Gui twins?" Doll eagerly asked, staring up at me with a wondering look. "You both look so much like one another!"

"NO!" Gui yelled in an offended tone, suddenly halting in his enthusiastic frolicking and angrily glaring back at us. He then promptly resumed his Prince-annoying like he'd never stopped in the first place.

Since when had he been listening?

"No, we're not," I repeated much more quietly, shaking my head in bewilderment as I watched Prince kick Gui's feet out from under him. I doubted I'd ever get even a shred of understanding as to why they both enjoyed that sort of thing so much.

"Which of you is the older brother, then?" Yu Lian inquired curiously, leaning forward slightly to look at me around Lolidragon and completely ignoring how my brother was now being roughly stomped upon by the elf.

"Gui Wen is older by two years," I answered, quickly looking away from the bloody mess which was my brother and instead focused on the rocky ground in front of myself, carefully stepping around a small, prickly bush.

Yu Lian's eyes widened slightly in surprise and Ugly Wolf started laughing. "I would have thought it was the other way around, judging by how you two act," he observed, smiling in amusement as he continued to chuckle. I made a faint noise of agreement; his reasons for thinking such a thing were very clear.

"Is Dib your son?" Doll suddenly asked while Ugly Wolf briefly paused to heal Gui's countless wounds.

I looked down at the girl with a mixture of perplexity and amusement. "Of course not." He and I didn't look anything alike, why would anyone think that? Then again, he didn't look very much like his real self, though that might have simply been because he looked so much younger—Heng and Dib's facial features really were similar to one another—so I supposed the possibility of a real father and son looking completely different from one another in-game wasn't so strange of an idea.

"Your nephew?" she furthered, eyebrows raised slightly.

"No," I replied, shaking my head.

"Your cousin?"

"No."

"Your brother?"

"No, Gui Wen is my only sibling. And I'm not related to Dib."

"Your boyfriend, then?"

I nearly tripped in surprise at that last guess, which was even more absurd than thinking he was my son. "No," I firmly denied, forcing myself not to glare at her in annoyance. Did I seem like a perverted man who would go after little boys? What in the world…

"Your husband?" Lolidragon calmly continued in Doll's place, face blank but twitching as if she was trying to keep herself from laughing.

"What‽ No!" I snapped, angrily glancing at her. "He's just my friend!"

"Dib-Dib is Meatbun-bun's friend!" that bun abruptly and shrilly corrected, sounding very irritated with me as it bounced up and down several times, soundly smacking me on the head. I'd almost forgotten that thing was sitting on me, with how oddly quiet it had been up there for quite a while.

Emphasis on the "had been." And why wasn't I allowed to call him my friend, too?

"Dib-Dib?" Dib echoed in extreme amusement at the unexpected nickname. Somehow, I doubted it wouldn't be the last time I'd hear it. He was manipulative enough without cutesy nicknames, who knew what the usual targets of shop clerks and random passerby would do against his adorable demeanor when he added "Dib-Dib" onto the innocent stares he used to get the things he wanted.

"So you're single?" Lolidragon asked, leaning toward me and blinking her large, pink eyes, an obviously seductive look settling on her face. I simply stared at her in shock, not even attempting to form some sort of a response. What was wrong with these people?

"Hey, get away!" Dib suddenly cut in, threateningly waving one of his little arms at the thief and protectively wrapping his other around my head, tightly hugging it against himself. "Stop interrogating Al! He doesn't like it!"

Rather than backing down, her thin arm was suddenly snaked around mine. "LET GO!" Dib and I yelled in unison as I frantically pried her off and took several frightened steps away. At some point, Dib had unsheathed a sword and was brandishing it in her direction as if daring her to make another move on me.

"Oh, so mean," Lolidragon pouted, looking disappointed at my rejection as she crossed her arms, tilting her head to one side. "You're such a bishie, it's a waste."

…What the hell was a "bishie"?

"But," she continued with an amused grin, "don't get any ideas about Prince, you hear?"

"That will never happen." I gave her an irritated frown, then guardedly watched as she whirled around, laughing heartily as if her advances had all been a joke—I hoped very much that that was the case—and continuing onward toward the mountains. Dib waited until she was quite a ways away until he finally put his sword back and I let out a long sigh of relief. What a thoroughly creepy person. My reasons for disliking Prince were starting to pile up.

"Ah, they're here!" Lolidragon suddenly exclaimed, quickening her pace and running on ahead. Her teammates followed suit, leaving Dib, Meatbun and I where we were standing. Looking up toward where they were headed, I blanched. This night was getting worse and worse.

Dib suddenly started chuckling and leaned on my head, seeming to be much more relaxed now that Lolidragon wasn't there anymore. "Look who it is, Al. It's your buddy!" he teased.

"He's not my buddy," I snapped, walking as slowly as I dared when that dark elf and his team came into view around a large boulder. He immediately stomped up to Gui and began arguing with him. Another mystery was beginning to clear itself up as their angry words floated toward me; they were fighting over Prince. That explained why he looked like he hated me. But, having no interest whatsoever in the selectively sadistic elf, I was relieved that I wouldn't be shot daggers at anymore.

"You two should be friends," Dib suggested promptly, kicking my chest so I'd walk faster over the rough, uneven ground. "After all, you have a common goal, although your motivation is different."

Common goal; getting Gui away from Prince.

Regardless, I was very reluctant to stand anywhere near him. I stopped a ways off and watched the two teams mingle together as they began to form a plan for their training session. Prince suddenly turned to look at Dib and I, then quickly ran over. "Could I have Meatbun back?" he asked, looking up at Dib. After a reluctant pause, Dib obediently returned the bun. "Thanks. We're about to get started if you two wanted to join in," Prince invited with a smile, and then hurried back to the others. I couldn't decide if the elf was good-natured or vicious. One minute he was mercilessly thrashing my brother, the next he was smiling like a saint. He certainly had a lot of sides.

"Want to?" Dib asked a moment later.

"I don't know," I answered. Part of me wanted to fly off to be alone with Dib, since I still hadn't said anything about what my father had threatened us with and I wanted to get it out of the way as soon as possible.

But I was also feeling very reluctant to let Gui out of my sight now that there were two people around who seemed to want nothing more than to cause him harm. And although I was sure the dark elf wouldn't have minded in the slightest if I dragged Gui away with me like I would have wanted, I doubted very much that Gui would agree to be parted from Prince, if only for a little while. Especially if I was the one taking him away from his beloved.

"What do you want to do?" I tilted my head back to questioningly look at Dib.

"I think it would be interesting to be able to fight with a team," he replied, leaning his elbows on my forehead and smiling down at me. "Since it's always just us, we never get to fight the high-level mobs. Just the low-level stuff."

I gave him a playful smirk and sighed. "You and high-level monsters, hm? Sounds like quite the combination."

His golden eyebrows drew together and he pulled on my cheek in annoyance. "You jerk, what's that supposed to mean‽ I can take them, no problems!"

"You don't even know what they are yet," I pointed out, finally walking toward the others. Though I was very anxious to talk to him, I supposed we could stay for a little while longer, since that was what he wanted. We still had the majority of the night to pass, anyway.

"You're here too, are you?" the dark elf commented blandly as he watched us approach. He still looked at me a bit suspiciously, though not at all like he had in the past.

"Obviously we are," Dib chirped in amusement.

I held my breath after Dib's little remark and the elf walked over to us. He stopped in front of me and scrutinizingly ran his eyes over the two of us. "You're Gui's brother?" he asked at last, to which I nodded wordlessly. "I see. I'm Wicked," he informed.

"Aeolus," I said quietly.

"Dib."

He suddenly frowned and raised an eyebrow. "Hey, are you two the ones who passed by the coffee shop earlier today? Around lunch time?"

I nodded again. Dib suddenly leaned over the top of my head and pointed a finger in Wicked's face. "It was us! And I didn't get a chance to say this earlier, but stop glaring at Al! He didn't do anything to you! You're being mean and creepy! If you hadn't been scaring him, we coulda gone inside rather than walking for ages and ages and ages to find another coffee shop! I almost starved to death, 'cause we walked for so long! My legs were about to fall off, 'cause they were so-o-o-o sore! In fact, they were worn down to bloody little stubs from all the walking! I collapsed from exhaustion along the way at least five hundred times! Poor Al had to carry me and now he's got a bunch of hernias! And–!"

"It's fine," I muttered, cutting off his long string of exaggerations and looking away from Wicked's slightly indignant expression. "I know why it was happening now."

Wicked glanced up at Dib, and then down at me again. "I'm sorry for the misunderstanding, it won't happen again. I figured it was you guys after you both left. Gui definitely would have come inside," he ended with a snort.

I smiled humorlessly at him. "Yes, I suppose it won't happen again, since Dib and I don't live in T City."

"Those two are in T City‽" Gui demanded, glaring at me in suspicion, but obviously not directing the question at me. My heart sank with the hateful tone he was speaking in. I'd hoped that, with eleven years gone past since the last time we'd seen one another, he would have been a little bit more tolerant of me than he had been. It was extremely disheartening to find that he wasn't. But I supposed the fact that he wasn't attempting to murder me or anything was a good sign, at least.

"No, we're not," Dib corrected. "We were for a few days and just so happened to stumble across Wicked earlier, but now we're not, so shut up and relax already yet. Geeze. You're being really annoying, trying to pick fights with Al for no good reason."

Gui frowned angrily at Dib, but turned away again without arguing further. Wicked looked between he and I in confusion, but cleared his throat and said, "Well, um…were you both planning on training with us?"

"Can we?" Dib asked hopefully as he leaned against the back of my head.

"No, they shouldn't," Gui suddenly denied, unwantedly jumping into the conversation again. I hesitantly looked up to meet his narrowed eyes, trying to think of something to say to help him calm down. The constant anger in his voice deeply hurt me. He probably thought I was there to spy on him for our father or something of that sort.

"Why?" Prince wondered, looking between us with a wide-eyed expression. His words were echoed by several other people, making me feel a bit warm. They were people Dib and I had only just met, yet they were standing up for us. Second Life was certainly giving me a lot of opportunities to experience new things. Perhaps they were only being polite, but it was still very kind of them to include Dib and I in their group. However, that brief, warm feeling quickly faded away when I looked back to Gui. It wasn't as though his anger toward me was unjustified, but it still stung.

He crossed his arms over his purple robes and coldly turned away from me. "Because. We two teams have been training together since the tournaments were canceled for the Grand Melee, thus we've gotten a firm hold on how we can maximize our training time. Those two will only get in the way."

I dropped my eyes as Prince proceeded to slap Gui upside the head, yelling reprimandingly at him for being rude. Dib's arms tightened comfortingly around me, but I took a step backward and nodded. "We'll be leaving, then," I said quietly, extending my wings and turning around as Dib carefully slipped off my shoulders, settling onto my back. I paused after a few steps and glanced at the group, smiling faintly toward Gui. "I'm sorry to have bothered you, Gui Wen. It won't happen again."

"Aeolus, wait!" Prince called, walking quickly toward Dib and I before we could take off. "You can stay if you want, don't listen to that idiot! You aren't–"

"No," I firmly interrupted, shaking my head in a refusal. "Thank you for your kind invitation, but I don't want to cause problems."

Prince inhaled and opened his mouth to say something else, but I began to beat my wings as hard as I could, wishing to get away as fast as possible. Dib re-tightened his grip around my neck, startled at my sudden movements. I glanced downward once more, but Gui hadn't looked back.

Squeezing my eyes shut for a moment, I took a deep breath and flew Dib and I away.