A/N: This is my sixth fanfiction. This is also a gift fic for OneShotRevolt. Merry Christmas! I hope you like it! This story takes place two years after Warmth.

The title is in Czech. The translation is in the fic. Please don't look it up before reading, as it is somewhat of a spoiler.

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to anything involving Mortal Kombat. The franchise belongs to Ed Boon.

For once, it wasn't snowing at the Lin Kuei Temple. Not only that, the sky contained no clouds, and the sun was shining. Such an unusual sight was thought to be foreboding by most of the Lin Kuei. There was one warrior, however, who welcomed the nice weather.

"Finally!" Tomas Vrbada, codename Smoke, exclaimed. "I won't need to light a fire to avoid freezing to death tonight!"

"Stop exaggerating, Tomas," Kuai Liang, codename Tundra, admonished. The intended effect was lessened by the smile on his face, meaning Tomas didn't take him seriously.

"You have to admit, this is refreshing," Tomas replied. "It doesn't happen often, after all. It might even mean something good will happen."

"Keep your optimism in check, Tomas," Bi-Han, codename Sub-Zero, the older twin brother of Kuai Liang, advised. "There are those who will see it as a sign of weakness. They will attempt to stomp it out of you."

Before Tomas could say anything, all of them saw the grandmaster approaching. The three immediately masked their emotions and bowed before him.

"Grandmaster," Sub-Zero greeted the man who ultimately decided their fates.

"Sub-Zero, Tundra, Smoke," the grandmaster addressed the warriors. "I trust you have been improving your skills?"

"We have, Grandmaster," Sub-Zero responded, he and the other two standing. "Tundra in particular has shown remarkable progress this past week. It is only a matter of time before he is ready to be sent on solo missions on a consistent basis."

Knowing that showing emotion now would be a bad idea, Tundra smiled internally. Getting complimented by Sub-Zero, especially in front of the grandmaster, was an extremely rare occurrence. Hearing that Bi-Han had that much faith in him made him feel better about his skills, but he knew that he should not get complacent.

"Very good," the leader of the Lin Kuei acknowledged. "Can the same be said about Smoke?"

"Yes, Grandmaster," Sub-Zero confirmed. "He is now even more silent when he is in his smoke form. Were my skills not close to perfection, he might have been able to execute me."

Smoke personally thought that Sub-Zero was giving him slightly too much credit, but if the grandmaster believed him, Smoke certainly wasn't complaining.

"That is what I like to hear," the grandmaster said. "I do not need to ask you about your progress, Sub-Zero, for I know how intensely you train yourself. Now, I must return to my throne room. I have been informed that Cyrax has just returned from a mission. As I am the one who assigned him this specific mission, I am the one he will be reporting to, after he puts away his belongings."

"Understood," Sub-Zero replied, nodding.

"Be stealthful as the night," the grandmaster commanded, saluting them the Lin Kuei way.

"And deadly as the dawn," the three replied, saluting him in turn.

The grandmaster turned to leave. Before he could take one step away, Smoke spoke up.

"Grandmaster," the smoke user addressed the man. "I have a humble request to make."

The grandmaster turned back around, making eye contact with Smoke. For a moment, he just stared at him. Tundra also looked at Smoke, confused. Sub-Zero looked at Smoke as well, the expression in his eyes telling Smoke to tread lightly.

"As Sub-Zero has said that your skills have improved, I shall hear you out," the grandmaster finally said. "What is your request?"

"You honor me, Grandmaster," Smoke said. "When you are finished debriefing Cyrax, please inform him that I will be waiting for him in front of his room."

"That is a simple request," the grandmaster acknowledged. "It shall be done. Is that all?"

"Thank you, Grandmaster," Smoke said, bowing. "It is."

"I shall take my leave now," the grandmaster stated, doing so.

"What do you need to talk to Cyrax for?" Kuai asked, once the grandmaster was out of earshot.

"It's a personal matter," Tomas said. "Nothing to worry about."

"Depending on whether or not the mission was successful, you might be waiting in front of Cyrax's room for a while," Bi-Han informed Tomas, knowing better than to question him.

"Bi-Han, it's Cyrax," Tomas replied. "You know it was a success." He started to make his way to the temple, then stopped and looked back at the Ice Brothers.

"Hopefully, the nice weather means good news for what I have to discuss with him," he told them, barely containing his excitement.

Before the two could react, he turned into smoke and quickly flew into the temple.

"I have no idea what goes on in that man's head, most of the time," Bi-Han muttered, as he and Kuai made their way to Tomas's room an hour later.

After passing the time by meditating, they decided to check up on Tomas after they felt enough time had passed for Cyrax's debriefing, and the subsequent meeting between the two. As they hadn't seen him in his usual spots, they assumed he'd be in his room.

"Neither do I," Kuai agreed. "It must be a Czechoslovakian thing."

"Don't let him hear that," Bi-Han said.

They were now in front of the door to Tomas's room. Bi-Han knocked on the door, giving it three sharp knocks, but there was no response.

"Tomas?" Bi-Han called out. "Are you in there?"

Complete silence was the response.

"I guess not," Kuai said.

"You're right," a familiar voice responded.

The Ice Brothers turned to the source.

"Cyrax!" Kuai said. "Tomas said he wanted to meet you after your debriefing. Did he get to meet with you?"

"He did," Cyrax confirmed. "He left to go somewhere afterwards. He didn't say where, just that he wouldn't be in his room. He also wanted me to give this to Sub-Zero."

The explosives and net user reached into his uniform, pulling out a folded piece of paper, then handed it to Bi-Han. Bi-Han took it, turned away from the other two, unfolded it, and read it.

Bi-Han, meet me in our usual spot. Just you.

It was clearly Tomas's handwriting. Bi-Han knew what Tomas meant when he said that he wanted to meet with just him in their usual spot.

"I see," Bi-Han simply said. He then folded the paper back up, sticking it into his uniform. "Smoke wants me to meet with him personally. I don't know when we'll return."

"Why just you?" Kuai asked, somewhat hurt.

"I don't know," Bi-Han answered. "While I'm gone, practice avoiding explosives with Cyrax. You never know when you'll run into those on future missions."

"Okay," Kuai said, sighing.

Bi-Han knew what Kuai was thinking. He placed his hands on his brother's shoulders.

"I know the three of us are close," the older twin began, "but there are some things that we keep private. I know you talk to Tomas about things that you don't talk to me about, but I don't pry, as I respect your privacy. This is the same thing, except it's between me and Tomas. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

"I do," Kuai admitted. "I just feel like I'm being left out."

"That's what happens when you're the youngest," Bi-Han joked, gently squeezing Kuai's shoulders. "Now go train. I better not hear you were caught in too many explosions."

"I won't be caught in any of them!" Kuai declared, determination running through his being. "Let's go, Cyrax! Don't hold back!"

Cyrax, who was pretending to inspect his bombs during the brotherly moment, looked up.

"For your sake, I hope you won't regret saying that," Cyrax smirked. "Follow me. I know the perfect place on the temple grounds for explosives training."

With that, the two left. Bi-Han watched them go, then went in a different direction. On his way to Tomas, he put the letter in a fire. Once it was reduced to ash, he continued walking.

The isolated parts of the Lin Kuei Temple were always good places to have secret meet ups. Tomas was glad they existed, as they made seeing Bi-Han without worrying about being found by someone possible. However, he wished Bi-Han would hurry up. His arms, which were currently behind his back, were starting to get tired.

His wish was granted a few seconds later, when he heard familiar footsteps approaching. He looked up to see Bi-Han, who was looking around to make sure he wasn't being followed.

"I don't know why you do that," Tomas said. "Unless someone's on a mission with you, or sparring with you, no one ever follows you. Everyone knows that's a bad idea."

"It never hurts to keep your guard up," Bi-Han replied. "However, now that I'm here, I don't need to." He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and let it back out. When he opened his eyes, there was warmth in them, along with his smile.

It was like a transformation. Gone was the rigid posture and coldness the majority of the Lin Kuei thought he only had. He was his true self now. Only Kuai, Tomas, and Cyrax to an extent had the honor of knowing this side of him.

"I suppose this meeting has to do with the good news you were talking about earlier." Bi-Han wasn't asking, but there was no negativity in what he said.

"You suppose correctly," Tomas confirmed. "Cyrax did have good news for me. I asked him to bring something back for me after he finished his mission, and he did."

"It's what's behind your back," the elder Cryomancer stated. "Is it something stupid?"

"If it was, I wouldn't have asked for just you to come here," the silver-haired man replied.

"Well, let's see it, then," Bi-Han said, curiosity now piqued.

Tomas smiled, and brought his hands in front of him. In them was a bouquet of flowers. The petals were blue, the floral discs were yellow, and the stems were dark red.

"Ta-da," Tomas grinned. "What do you think?"

Bi-Han stared at the bouquet, then at Tomas's face, then back at the bouquet, and then back at Tomas's face. He blinked once, then twice.

"Tomas, what are those," the Lin Kuei's greatest warrior deadpanned.

"They're flowers, Bi-Han," the smoke user answered the way a patient preschool teacher would speak to their young students, grin still in place. "Surely you know what those are."

"You know what I mean," Bi-Han deadpanned again.

"I do," Tomas relented, grin shifting into a smile. "The scientific name for them is Felicia amelloides. The most common names for them are the blue marguerite, and the blue daisy. They're native to South Africa, where Cyrax's mission was."

"I see," Bi-Han said. "How did you learn about these specific flowers?"

"I saw pictures of them in a book," Tomas answered. "When I saw them, I knew I had to get them for you. They're like you, after all."

"How so?" the blue-clad man inquired.

"Modrý a krásný," the gray-clad man answered in his native language.

"Tomas, I don't speak Czech," the ice user said.

"Blue and beautiful," Tomas translated, smiling warmly.

"…Tomas," Bi-Han said softly, a small smile on his face, cheeks getting warm and turning pink.

"You wear blue," Tomas elaborated, walking up to Bi-Han. "You're also beautiful. I know you don't hear that often. I'm going to change that."

Bi-Han didn't know what to say. He couldn't believe this was happening. Of all the things that he imagined would happen today, getting a bouquet of flowers and being called beautiful wasn't one of them. However, it was happening right now. He saw Tomas take one of the flowers out of the bouquet. The man then gently tucked it behind Bi-Han's right ear, under his hair.

"They complement your uniform as well," Tomas noted, looking Bi-Han up and down.

Bi-Han thought back to how all of his happened. How Tomas found him at this same spot, and encouraged him to let out everything he bottled up inside. How after he did so, Tomas told him to come to him if he ever needed to vent. How he started to seek out Tomas's company, initially to vent and be the one Tomas vented to, eventually to just be around each other without Kuai being there. How one day, when they were sitting next to each other, Tomas kissed him, and after recovering from the shock, Bi-Han kissed him back. How they decided to have a secret relationship, hidden from those who considered romance a distraction, and hidden from Kuai as well. How Bi-Han felt loved by someone other than Kuai, and how he loved Tomas back.

"I don't deserve this," Bi-Han finally said. "I don't deserve any of this. I don't deserve you."

"Assassins don't deserve anything good," Tomas responded. "And yet, here we are, still alive and as well as we can be. You have Kuai, and we have each other. Don't question why you have the few good things you do. Just embrace them."

To emphasize his point, Tomas kissed Bi-Han on the forehead. The tenderness of the action made Bi-Han shiver slightly.

"When should we tell Kuai about us?" Bi-Han asked. "He's starting to feel excluded whenever we meet without him."

"Whenever you think he's ready to know, since you're the one who didn't want to tell him," Tomas answered. "Do you think he'll approve?"

"The older twin asks the younger twin for approval of his relationship," the blue-eyed man chuckled. "What an unusual life I have."

"What isn't unusual about us?" the gray-eyed man retorted, humor in his voice.

Bi-Han had no answer to that, so he smiled instead. Tomas noticed that he still had the bouquet in his hands. He gave it to Bi-Han, who accepted it.

"Kuai's going to ask about the flowers," Bi-Han pointed out. "What should I tell him?"

"Way ahead of you," Tomas said. "According to flower meanings and flower color meanings, these particular flowers mean 'chill out.' That's the short version, at any rate. I'll tell him I got you those just to say that."

"In short, you did research to make a joke and a pun only you find funny," Bi-Han summed up.

"Yep!" Tomas grinned. "You have to admit, it's believable that I would do that."

"It most certainly is," the Cryomancer replied. "How long will they live for?"

"They're drought-resistant and wind-resistant, but they require full sun, and don't tolerate frost," the smoke user answered. "They can grow in sand, as long as it's well-drained and isn't damp. They require regular, moderate waterings. They're perennial flowers, and should survive among the rest of the Lin Kuei's plants."

"Understood," Bi-Han nodded. "I'll take good care of them."

"If you treat them with the same love and affection as you do Kuai, I wouldn't be surprised if an exponential number of them grew over the years," Tomas said, chuckling at the thought of the flowers overtaking the Lin Kuei's garden.

"I accept that challenge," the warrior smirked. He looked at the flowers, then back at Tomas, the smirk softening into a smile.

"Thank you, Tomas," Bi-Han said. "For everything."

"You're welcome, Bi-Han," Tomas said, returning the smile. "Now then, we should go plant those flowers before they start to wilt."

"Right," the blue-eyed man agreed.

They made their way to where the Lin Kuei's plants were. Along the way, Bi-Han received odd looks from their fellow warriors. Knowing it was due to the bouquet, Bi-Han glared at them. The others immediately averted their gaze, not wanting to get on the elder Cryomancer's bad side. When they got to the plants, they saw that Kuai, Cyrax, and Sektor were there. Bi-Han was glad to see that Kuai and his uniform were free of any signs of explosions.

"I see your training went well," Bi-Han observed.

"It did!" Kuai confirmed. He then noticed the flowers. "Where'd you get those?"

"I asked Cyrax to get them for me, so that I could give them to Bi-Han," Tomas answered. "In flower language, those flowers mean 'chill out.'"

Kuai, Cyrax, and Sektor groaned at that.

"I had that same reaction," Bi-Han lied.

"You still appreciate the flowers, considering one of them is behind your ear," Sektor noted.

Bi-Han and Tomas's eyes widened. Bi-Han reached for his right ear. Sure enough, he felt the flower, right where Tomas placed it.

That explains the odd looks I got, Bi-Han thought, wanting the ground to swallow him whole.

A/N: Everything about those flowers is true. Google them; they're lovely. That was fanfic number six. I hope you liked it, OneShotRevolt! As for everyone else, I hope you enjoyed reading it! I enjoyed writing it, as it is a gift for a friend.