For rix_scaedu‘s prompt. Blame/credit to @dahob for the names and Changes of the twins.

She looked at him.

He looked at her.

"It’s not that I don’t like you…"

"And I like you, too. It’s just…"

"Yeah." They liked each other, they just couldn’t live together without blowing things up. They’d been trying since they first came to Addergoole. They weren’t getting any better at it.

"The kids?"

"I’ll take Yang. You take Yin. They’re young, they’ll adapt."

—

Thirteen Years Later

"Bye, mom." Yang kissed his mother on the cheek. "Take care of yourself, all right?"

"That’s my line. You… behave yourself. No mischief you can’t cover up."

"You know I’m a good kid." Yang gave her his best innocent look. "Sweet and harmless."

"I know you are. Go on, sunshine. Shower at least once a week and don’t trust everyone you meet."

She worried about her boy, all alone in this place.

—

"Check your knives, and keep that spear under your bed." He kissed his daughter on her cheek and patted her head. "Don’t let any boy past your doorway unless he’s willing to promise you he means no harm, and if they give you trouble, tell them they have to meet me before they can get any further with you."

"Da-a-a-d." Yin checked her knives anyway, and gave her father a tight hug. "Don’t go fighting monsters without me, all right?"

"I’ll be safe, sweetie. You do the same." He slipped a palm-knife of bone into her coat pocket. "Don’t borrow anything you can’t pay back right away and don’t lend anything you can’t afford to lose."

"Don’t put your back to someone you don’t know." She patted his hand. "I’ll be fine, dad. Take care."

"You too. Go on, midnight baby."

He worried about his girl, all alone in this place.

—

"And don’t forget who you are…" Yang muttered his mother’s favorite advice. "As if I…"

"…could forget something like that. Don’t trust anyone I don’t know. How am I …"

"…ever going to meet anyone if I don’t…"

"…trust…"

"YOU!!!"

Bags went flying. The two tackled each other, mirrors save for gender, while their luggage launched across the hallway.

"I thought…"

"…we’d lost we…"

"forever."

—

On the other side of the school, as the echos of the reunited twins reached their ears, she looked at him. A wistful, amused sigh escaped her lips. "Sometimes Regine knows what she’s doing, after all."

"And sometimes we don’t."
 

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