To be back where I started.
Kemal sat on the end of a cliff, his legs lazily dangling off of the edge. Behind him was a mess of a man kicking and rolling without a sound.
He decided a while ago to just let the man do his thing.
—
"I DON'T WANNA!" Azul yelled surrounded by a forest of flames.
"WELL I DO!!!" A perfect copy of Azul yelled back.
The forest burned and burned, despite taking the form of a forest it shifted quite a lot.
"I DIDN'T MEAN TO!!" Azul yelled tears welling up in his eyes. "PLEASE! PLEASE JUST LISTEN TO ME!"
"Please..?" The copy of Azul repeated.
"PLEASE!?!?" The forest of flames flared up unnaturally white. "DID YOU EVER LISTEN TO MY PLEAS!? DID YOU!? DID YOU AZUL!?" The Copy screeched, its voice echoing with its very flames.
"But they-" Azul attempted to defend himself but the flames around them formed into a desolated desert.
"But they?" It repeated weakly, its flames returning to a normal shade of red. "But they what.." It fell on its knees forcing their eyes to meet.
"Please, explain to me why.." The ground beneath them exploded into an unnatural white flame once more.
"WHY!?" His voice echoed like thunder.
"I DON'T KNOW!!" Azul snapped back, the flames flickering a faint blue before dimming back into a harmless red-orange.
"I don't know.." He whimpered.
"What have I ever done.." The second Azul approached on his knees, "to ever.. Be deemed as a threat," he grabbed onto Azul's shoulders, "THAT I AM DANGEROUS," suddenly they both fell onto the ground their eyes fearful of the other, "TO BE SUPPRESSED AZUL!" The flames boomed into another bright white, reaching high into the sky and shaping into walls all around them.
"I WAS JUST A CHILD!" Azul screamed as the flame wall shook.
"AND I WAS NOT!?" The copy boomed, the walls flickering an eerie blue.
Both men were breathing heavily, the air was hot and suffocating them.
"Then why are you here, get out." His voice shook the world with another fiery thunder. "GET OUT!"
"NO!" Azul roared back and flipped their positions.
The man beneath him started to glow with a faint undertone of flames around his body intending to vanish out of this position.
"I don't wanna suppress you anymore.." Azul sobbed out, tears dripping onto the burning face causing it to sizzle in response.
I want you back, I want my brother, my friend- my anomaly.
"Myself, I want my spark back." Flame walls all around them began to crumble with large chunks of fire falling like blocks.
"You still dare call me a piece of you?" A voice filled with echoes questioned.
"You are not, not until I let that part of me be free."
Be… Free?
Azul grasped through the flames body.
"Azul," Azul called out. "We are Azul, so why can't we both run away."
Once every last block of flame dropped and crashed it began absorbing into the ground.
"Are you…?"
"All I ask is one thing.." Azul interrupted.
"Don't let him leave." His body lowered down to his counterpart's ear, eyeing Kemal. "He wants to leave us, I don't want him to leave." He whispered in an almost conspiracy-like voice.
"I won't." The body beneath him vanished into the ground.
"Pal?"
Kemal perked up when the fuss behind him finally ended. "Yeah?"
When his eyes met Azuls they were filled with something, a light maybe? His pupils may have still been there but something was missing.
"Pal.." Azul called out once more his voice suddenly echoing in on itself.
I see…
Kemal took a mental note and smiled.
"I'm glad you're back." A loving smile for a creature who had been deprived of it.
"Are you done.." He questioned.
"Done with what exactly?" The boy raised his eyebrow suspiciously.
"I.." Azul started to get nervous.
"We can go." Kemal turned his head back out to the beach below him. "You wanna explore don't you? I can go with you, you already took me this far didn't you?" He mused with a smile, a smile the other could barely see.
Azul looked around carefully before approaching Kemal.
"So, where do you wanna go?"
"Do you wanna walk across the bridge again?" Kemal turned his head just enough to meet the nervous Man's face.
"No.." He responded barely above a whisper.
"So you are looking at me for guidance?"
Almost like a guilty animal he turned his head away.
"I don't think-" Kemal suddenly felt his heart drop when he got shoved off of the ledge.
As he fell he noticed the beautiful view of the sun and the ocean colliding in one beautiful blur.
Wrapping around him from behind he felt Azul embrace him tightly.
Oh you stupid stupid boy.. In the body of a man but left behind as a child.
—
It was a long beach walk, time passed for almost an eternity. Footprints left on the sand a small trail of crystal left behind beneath each print.
While the sun was leaving, their walk had only begun, with the stars lighting their path and the smell of burn following them wherever they went nothing seemed to be brave enough to approach them.
"Should I still call you Azul?"
"Am I not?"
"Hm."
The fire shifter was unnaturally mesmerized by the stars above him. The sky has never felt so alive before. Each glow, each flicker, each line. It was all to be something to admire.
His eyes were sparkling throughout the entire way.
The boy wasn't gonna point out the obvious, while they were walking he saw a familiar bridge spreading across the wide ocean.
"Look."
"I won't."
Azul immediately rejected while Kemal could only chuckle.
"Not even because we met there?"
"Maybe.." Azul seemed worried
The larger man only took a small peek before turning his attention to the ocean it was on instead.
His eyes were glowing, it was far more beautiful than just the sky itself. Everything he saw seemed so brand new yet so familiar.
A world he dreamt of and finally saw.
A fever dream he finally woke up in.
"It's beautiful isn't it, to be free?" Kemal mused once more, his eyes not focused on any of his surroundings.
There was no response from the man beside him, instead he suddenly felt his hand being grasped by another.
"Hey-" Kemal was about to protest and pull back but something in Azul's eyes made him have a change of heart.
Nevermind. I'll allow it.
You're just..
His eyes softened while looking at the man before him, instead of seeing Azul he saw someone else. Someone with just as stupid behaviour as him.
He quickly shook it off and turned his focus back on the path ahead of him.
—
It was still dark but Kemal already knew that the sun was rising soon. He was seated on a roof looking down at a little fire animal shifting into all sorts of forms pouncing and rolling on the grass.
Multiple noticeable glances were shot his way but Kemal decided to brush it off as him being paranoid.
This dude is almost acting like an actual animal..
Feeling more relaxed he leaned back onto the wood beneath him and stretched his arms out revealing his belly.
With a soft caress of something landing beside his head, he tiredly opened his eyes back up to glance at a sheet of paper facing downwards.
"Where the hell did that..- AZUL-" Kemal barely dodged to the side when a large fire wolf came from beneath him to tackle him down.
"HEY!" He scolded but the wolf boy quickly scooted his butt closer until he was hip to hip with the man.
Kemal barely managed to snatch the paper with his roll brushing aside some locks that managed to grow out a bit.
"Move."
Azul reluctantly shifted away but that wasn't enough so Kemal decided to move away himself earning him a little sulk and drooping ears.
When finally having the space to focus on the paper a light raised from behind, it was Azul's fire tail.
He couldn't help but smile for a second but that smile quickly faded when he finally took a closer look at the contents of the sheet.
Wanted… Stupid fucking loser! YOU GOT CAUGHT STEALING!?
Kemal kicked his legs in frustration, the paper crumpling beneath his fists.
Seeing his Pals arms shake, Azul suddenly blew a breath of hot flame onto the paper's back turning it into ash.
Kemal was about to snap at him but what got to him the most was that pathetic bounty.
Just a thousand gold? Rookie numbers.
"He deserved that, good job." Instead he chose to praise the little fire breather.
Azul tilted his head for a second before nodding with a toothless grin.
Creepy..
This version of Azul was a being of little words all touch no talk and it really rubbed Kemal the wrong way.
He hates being touched and this man gets extraordinarily close, even his tail was almost too close for comfort. It was as if he was constantly testing the others boundary with increased insistence.
Deciding to finally take a rest he adjusted his clothes for a second before laying back onto the roof.
Deciding not to explain himself further he shut his eyes once more.
Once his breath evened out and his body relaxed Azul finally decided to pounce off of the roof dashing through the streets leaving a thin trail of flames behind.
A soft chuckle escaped the 'sleeping' man's chest.