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I. CHRISTMAS VACATION

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DECEMBER 9TH

THE NOTORIOUS MISER brothers knew they'd messed up terribly, but it was too late to fix it by the time they both realized it. They were technically half-brothers as they had different fathers (both descending from the realm of Arcadia but neither one was present in either of their sons' lives), but they shared a mother which bound them together by blood much to their annoyance. Though, they hardly considered the other to be their family no matter how hard their mother, Gaia, tried to convince them to bond and get along like most families. Growing up, they hardly ever got along and tended to have to be separated on numerous occasions. Gaia had hoped it was because of their ages and they would start to get along as they got older, but their hatred for one another only increased along with age. Gaia did her best, but when they became old enough to live off-world and in other Realms where they only had to see each other maybe once or twice a year, there was no stopping them; that didn't mean she lost hope that one day they would see the other as what they were: brothers, family. Yet they were complete polar opposites, there was one thing Gaia knew for certain; neither of them were very good at admitting when they'd done something wrong or made a mistake.

But this time there was no hiding or denying the obvious fact that they screwed up in one of the worst ways possible.

They could feel Gaia's rage lingering in the tense air and clawing at their pale skin as if she was just giving them a taste of what they would feel when they were finally in the same room as her, making their heart rates quicken slightly.

Daunting grey clouds lingered in the usually bright blue sky and light rain poured down from above to drench the eerily dull land, the air a mix of warm and cold ━━━ no doubt Gaia's doing so that it was perfectly balanced for her as well as her two sons. The animals that lived just beyond Gaia's secluded and vibrant garden were incredibly quiet that peculiar morning, not a single sound breaking through the rain to let the brothers believe that things might've just turned out okay; they knew better than to think that after what they'd done.

Humans alike were even wondering what happened for something so uncanny and cruel to occur in different parts of their world, but only a few had any idea or suspicion, and only one person on Earth who was visiting an old friend at the time already knew what had happened ━━━ and they were fucking furious.

People were still reeling from all the chaos that ensued, trying their best to piece back together what the Miser Brothers had destroyed in their nastiest fight yet; perhaps ever recorded, even. It had lasted for hours, and neither one of them had noticed what was actually happening below them until they were jolted in surprise by a strike of lightning lighting up Earth from afar. When they finally realized and attempted to fix it ━━━ while, of course, bickering and blaming the other for what was going on ━━━ it had already been put to an abrupt stop thanks to their mother whose powers went far beyond what either of them were capable. Now the clock was quickly ticking down until her much anticipated arrival as the brothers sat inside her cozy home, waiting for a lecture from her that would've rocked even Odin to his very core.

But until then, the brothers had to find some way to pass the time.

"You really did it this time, you know, Hot Head."

"Don't you point your finger at me, Popsicle. This was your fault."

"Oh, is that right, F━━━"

Everything grew silent when a sudden slam that rattled the silverware delicately placed on the wooden table echoed in the rectangular room. The boys' lips smacked closed simultaneously, their postures straightening almost instantly. Their eyes were slightly widened in surprise, no doubt their fear was obvious in their bright eyes while their heartbeats fastened. They listened to their mother's footsteps, hearing them grow closer and closer to the dining room. It was large and spacious with a long glass table placed in the center, bright flowers in various sized pots lining the middle of it. Round chairs were tucked in nicely, Blaise on one end and Noel on the opposite as they could never stand to be close to each other without wanting to claw the others' eyes out. Their mother, Gaia, usually sat in the middle of the table, balanced between her boys as she was with most things; it was part of her job since she was what people had deemed Mother Nature ━━━ she who created a balance with all living things and only intervened when necessary.

She had strong connections to all of the Nine Realms, but she lived on her own in a small world where only she, her sons, and a select few animals existed. Few visitors came and went over the centuries, but they weren't very consistent and only stayed for a short while. Most visits were from Odin or one of Gaia's sons ━━━ they were almost never there at the same time ━━━ which wasn't very often either. The last time their mother had spoken with Odin was nearly 200 years ago, but she'd traveled to Arcadia just a few years ago to see one of the Princesses become Queen of Arcadia where she was met with Odin's handsome sons, Thor and Loki. Her sons were meant to join her for the highly anticipated ceremony, but since both of them were invited, neither one went to avoid having to see each other. It didn't go over well with Gaia, but that anger she felt then was nothing compared to what currently radiated off of the woman.

Blaise and Noel didn't dare look their mother in the eye when she finally entered the room, standing behind her chair with her hands firmly placed on her hips and her eyes flicking back and forth between her sons with one brow raised. The air felt a little more cooler now, and as Blaise spared a glance towards his younger brother, he could see little bits of ice creeping up on the edge of the table as Noel tightly gripped the edge of the surface. His eyes narrowed and he lifted his head, feeling his body grow warm as he attempted to try and get rid of the flakes; he hated snow. Noel noticed, but before he could retaliate, Gaia's voice stopped them.

"You know, I was planning on spending my day by beginning to regrow the Amazons after they were purposely set on fire, but then the strangest thing happened," Gaia slowly began, her voice surprisingly calm. Blaise and Noel shifted uncomfortably, avoiding their mothers' burning gaze. It was never a good sign when she seemed calm when they knew she was angry. "There was a blizzard that spanned over almost the entire east coast. . .dozens of heat waves that clashed and created tornadoes ━━━ not to mention there was yet another spark of forest fires━━━"

"I don't control what kind of weather occurs once contaminated by him━━━"

"Nor do I━━━"

"Is that really what you two are getting from this?" Gaia harshly snapped. The brothers sank further into their seats and ducked their heads low. Gaia heavily sighed and shook her head, some of her red hair falling behind her shoulders with the movement. "You two nearly caused the worst global catastrophe in history, and it may be that once everything finally settles. Do you boys have any clue how hard that is to do nowadays? Humans just light things on fire for the thrill of it, or because they're angry and don't know how to properly channel that as if disrupting nature would help them somehow."

"Why do you still care for them then? All they do is ruin what you create and only care about themselves," Noel couldn't help but wonder. He nor Blaise never understood how Gaia could still adore humans when they constantly ruined what she worked so hard to create; the only thing they were jealous of humans was that they never had to face Gaia's wrath; well, not like him and Noel, at least.

Blaise snickered from the other end of the table, taking in his brother's words. "That sounds familiar," he murmured, Scottish accent thick.

Noel's eyes sharply flicked to his brother, his bright blue eyes cold and hard like a sharp icicle. "I know you're not talking about me, Blaise, seeing that you're the one who destroys things by lighting it all on fire just like those wretched━━━"

Gaia cleared her throat and gave her boys each a look that made them grow silent once more. She pursed her lips into a fine line, letting out a heavy huff. "I care about them because I love them and want what's best for them. . .regardless of what they do. They may not know it or believe it, but I do. They are one of a kind, and as much as they destroy m. . .their home, it is still my duty to heal Earth and make her just a little bit better each and every day. And it is your boys' duty to create a balance with the seasons, but it seems that neither of you are fully capable of shouldering that kind of responsibility anymore."

Noel's lips parted in shock at Gaia's words, his blood running cold as if he already knew what she was going to say next. Blaise deeply frowned, facing his mother in concern and confusion. What did she mean?

"Mother? What do you mean?" Blaise demanded to know, speaking for him and Noel.

Gaia looked from one boy to the other, twisting her lips in thought. She hated to do it to them, but her decision was final and would not be up for discussion. "Since neither of you can no longer fulfill your duties and have yet to learn the importance of family ━━━ the importance of brotherhood ━━━ you two will be stripped of your powers━━━" Blaise and Noel leaped to their feet, pleading for a second chance or for another kind of punishment, but Gaia simply continued as if they no longer hand their voices, "━━━and sent to Earth until you two learn."

"EARTH?! Mother, you can't actually be━━━"

"It is not up for debate," Gaia sharply replied, shooting Noel a dangerous look that made him close his lips once more. He scoffed under his breath, shaking his head as he turned on his feet, taking a few steps away to try and keep his cool. Blaise huffed, shaking his head while his body burned with a newfound frustration. Gaia expected their reactions upon making her decision, but no matter what they did or said, her mind would not be changed. "Think of it as a. . .a little vacation. Neither of you will have to deal with tending to the weather of the realms and can focus on what's truly important in a time like this."

No matter what they thought or wanted to say, their fates were sealed no matter how much they hated it. Blaise and Noel would go to Earth and. . .hopefully manage to hold back from murdering each other.

"When do we leave?" Blaise muttered in defeat, still facing the opposite way as he felt if he saw his brother's pale face, his rage would boil over and set fire to the dining room. 

"Tomorrow morning."

Noel scoffed in disbelief.

He couldn't begin to believe what was happening to him, or even Blaise for that matter. Each time he'd been punished, he had thought it was the worst one yet, but now he knew what was really the worst kind of punishment. Blaise would've agreed if he heard, but not out loud, of course. The brothers could never think or do the same; they had to do the opposite of each other just like their powers. It was written in the bones; it was who they were.

There was nothing that could've been worse than this, or so they thought. Being on Earth was already too much as it was ━━━ surely their mother didn't have anything to add to that.

"And did I mention that you two will only be allowed to be 25 feet apart from each other at all times?"

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Ahh, it's back!! I meant to post this earlier today, but I completely forgot until now, oops! It's still basically the same story as before (for this of you who might've read this last year or parts of this) with a few tweaks here and there to spice it up/fix up some things I didn't like before!

There are a few of my oc's in this/mentioned, but you really don't need to know them/read their stories as their characters will be explained so (hopefully) no is confused or anything!

Thank you so much to dunbonnet for the gif above as well! I can't get over how beautiful it is!!

Anyways, please don't forget to leave your feedback in the comments and i hope y'all enjoyed!