Chapter Text
What he said was muffled, the only part that Flame could process was that he was leaving. They've been friends for nearly 3 years now, Flame and Wemmbu, that is. Wemmbu held his hand through every terrible thing Flame had to go through. From staying up late with him while his horns were coming in, or when Flame was abandoned by his parents and left to live with his older half-brother. Wemmbu was always there for him.
Flame lived with his older brother, related only by their father, his name was Manepear, he was from their father's first marriage. He was 17 when he met Flame, with flame only being 9 years old. As soon as Manepear turned 18 the happy married couple ran off, leaving their kid's for dead, Manepear became the automatic guardian of Flame frags.
Wemmbu was raised in the orphanage, meeting Flame through the little free time he had at school. Wemmbu was a year older than Flame, but because of complications with his biological parents and legal proceedings, he was held back a year. So him and Flame attended all the same classes. Wemmbu and Flame were very different as kids, Wemmbu was stoic, hardly ever showing very straightforward emotions, he never cried, or smiled, but he did get angry, very, angry. As a kid he had a terrible temper, he never lashed out though, he only blew up on kids who picked on him, or Flame. Flame was a sensitive kid, he was delicate, broken by the loss of friends and family, unlike Wemmbu, he was very much a cry baby. He was also picked on significantly more than Wemmbu, it was open knowledge that Wemmbu was an orphan, but that was old news, finding out Flame was abandoned on the other hand, was fresh meat, and kids can be very vicious.
Wemmbu would get into physical altercations with any kid who decided being a bully was a good idea, and with no family to take accountability and the orphanage not caring enough, Wemmbu would come out scott free. But now he was leaving, he had gotten adopted and was leaving at the end of the week, with his adoptive father, Minutetech, had givin him time to say goodbye. For the couple years it had just been Flame, Wemmbu, and Manepear, with Manepear even helping out Wemmbu with his fighting style, as a "thank you" for protecting his little brother. A protection that won't be here much longer.
Wemmbu was excited, a very rare occurrence of a smile along with his voice of optimism. But Flame wasn't listening, all he was hearing was that Wemmbu was abandoning him, like anyone else who was important to him.
"If you're going to leave like the rest of them! Then stay away like them too! "
Flame yelled it out, cutting off whatever sentence little Wemmbu was trying to string together, as tears started streaming down his face.
" I don't need one more person giving me false hope. "
Wemmbu sighed, as Flame looked down and wiped tears away from his cheeks.
"You're such a cry baby. " Wemmbu mumbles to himself.
He walks over to Flame, who doesn't notice till he was entrapped in a warm embrace by Wemmbu, who was taller only by enough to never shut up about it when its brought up, and to comfortably wrap his arm around Flames shoulder. Wemmbu pulls away as Flames tears slow to a sniffle, Wemmbu rests his hands on Flames shoulders, avoiding eye contact as he did when he felt awkward.
"I'm not gonna be gone forever."
He brings his hand down the Flames chest, which now gave refuge to a small purple crystal on a string.
"So, I'll give you this."
He held up another one, except this on was in his hand and instead of purple, this one was a fiery orangey red.
"I'll have a matching one so we can always find each other. Okay? "
Flame didn't hesitate, his tears replaced by a smile, one to match the one plastered on his best friends face.
"Okay! "
Wemmbu slings his arm around Flame as they start waking away.
"Also you gotta stop crying man. Doesn't make you look strong! "
"I know! I know! "
.★.
Flame plays with the necklace, it's chipped from the years he's had it, it's been 6 years since it was given to him, a lot has happened since then. Without Wemmbus protection, Flame had to learn to defend himself. He was no longer the sensitive little kid he used to be, he had learned to desensitize himself, isolated himself, with only his friend Lomedy being anywhere close to his inner bubble. But even he hasn't seen Flames eyes. Flame always wore a blindfold, he started wearing it in middle school, when he was getting tired of always reading people's faces, having to puzzle together emotions. It was exhausting. So he stopped, he blocked out the faces, the expressions, the emotions. He was effectively blind, to society, and literally. He relearned how to do everything in his life, which given his heighten senses wasn't very hard. He was a tiger and nether demon hybrid, which have him empecible hearing, amazing sense of smell and night vision, which he would obviously not really need, what gave him the upper hand was that he had whiskers, they were so fine no one could see them unless they were looking, this allowed Flame to navigate the world as if he was any other person, even if he was blind. He doesn't really know what anyone looks like, just their general build and what sound like, from just these vauge clues he can deduct a lot from a person, if they were human or not, their heritage, their confidence and strengths, etc. Flame was now a very strong fighter, with him having a prominent reputation as "the immortal demon" because of how he's survived so many fights, he used to fight anyone who tried messing with him, but after becoming friends with Lomedy he only fought anyone who spasificly asked for one, leaving the ones who fight with words to just words.
Flame had few friends, with his reputation keeping most people far from calling themselves his friend, the only people he could genuinely call his friends were Jaden, and Lomedy, although Jaden always dragged Flame to hang out with his friends. A couple of Jaden friends, Flame didn't mind, but some of them really got on his nerves, he got into serious fights with one especially, Spongs. He never left Flame alone when he was dragged to hang out with him, so he started avoiding Jadens hang outs, replacing his time with hanging out with Lomedy, who ran the schools garden club, which is where Flame would substitute his time with. With Flame avoiding Spongs, and in the process Jaden, it strained their friendship but neither spoke of it, keeping them friends yet almost strangers.
Other than the occasional altercation with another student, the school day for Flame was like any other students day. Although this particular day was mildly different, there were new students, four of them, which was extremely rare for this out of the way town. Depending on your grade you shared a home room, which was everyone's first period, so the whole of the 12th grade class met these new comers. Spoke, Mapicc, Eggchan, and Wemmbu. The last one sounded familiar but Flame was too busy trying to ignore the classes obnoxiousness by taking a nap to pay any real attention to it.
Professor Ace. The senior's home room teacher, who along with that, was also a vice principal to Principal Lettuce. Ace was a butterfly demon, or a voidling, each voidling has a unique personality that can differ from calm, collected, and caring, like Ace and Minute, or chaotic and destructive. It just depended on the biology of the voidling. Butterfly demons, were always known for their unpredictable behaviors.
"Alright class, we have a couple new students this semester. I hope we can all be mature about this. "
Four students lined up at the front of the class, ready to introduce themselves.
"Please feel free to introduce yourselves. " professor Ace finished.
"Hello! My name is Spoke! I hope that I can make many friends this year, now that I have more vic- people to make friends with. "
He wasn't suble to anyone lined up but to everyone else, his charm of deceit worked. Maybe it was his butterfly demon aspects that made him seem harmless but surely to some he was uneasy.
"Whats up... I'm Mapicc. "
He didn't elaborate. He was a nether demon, one of Flames 2 halves, except Mapicc wasn't a mix breed.
The third student didn't say anything, he seemed preoccupied, he seemed to be an angel, with wings the shield his eyes. He stood silent for a minute before a purple end demon elbowed him, hard.
"Ow! What was that for? " the angel whimpered to the purple demon.
"Introduce yourself, lock in bro. " he whispered back.
"Shit, I'm doing that now? "
"Dude, you're actually a bot. " he stood back straight and pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Hello, I'm Eggchan. I like reading. " he paused ubruptly, like it was unnatural, like there was anything normal about this guy.
"I'm Wemmbu. I'll fight you if you piss me off. " very straightforward, almost as if it was a challenge. The kids at this school knew Flame was strong, they knew not to pick on him, but this new guy was practically begging for someone to try something.
"Alright then... Colorful introductions he have here, you can all take a seat.
They all occupied seats across the class, Wemmbu pausing by Flames desk for the a brief second before moving to the back of the class, Eggchan sat at the desk next to Flames, Spoke and Mapicc found seats next to one another, they were a row behind Flame but the one in front of Wemmbu.
Not long after Flame had fell asleep, the class flew by and by the time the bell rung Wemmbu was already out the door with Eggchan who lagging behind him.
By the end of the day, news about the new kids were unavoidable, despite Lomedy and Flame detesting school drama Lomedy was still getting word of it and his weak willed self gave in and learned about these new kids, and relayed the information to Flame, who didn't like listening to drama but did like making Lomedy happy, a lot of what Flame did didn't make Lomedy happy so Flame tried where he could, anything for his only friend. Spoke and Mapicc have already made quite a splash among the teachers as they've pranked every one of theirs, all at different times, all with no real proof, only one or two students spotting them set it up, there was controversy about who the mastermind was, Spoke or Mapicc? Lomedy was betting on it being Spoke because he was a voidling, it was hinged on a stereotype but he did find out he was right when a week later they were caught for the first time. Spoke and Mapicc weren't the only ones whose grown a reputation, Wemmbu had been pretty aggressive the whole day, according to word around the school he almost got a fight already, with none other than Jaden, apparently Jaden was picking on this kid and Wemmbu was ready to throw down over it, the teachers were able to pull them apart but people whispered about them going somewhere to fight after school. What was actually the most, or least interesting thing, depending on who you are, Eggchan was nowhere to be found, like he just disappeared during lunch or something.
"Lomedy, do you even know if any of this is true? "
"I mean it all seems pretty realistic, other than people thinking Mapicc is the mastermind, thats absolutely absurd if you ask me. "
"People are gonna think you're racist. "
"What?! Why?? "
Lomedy was distraught.
"Just cause he's a voidling doesn't mean he has to be the mastermind. "
"Aw man does that actually make me seem racist? "
"Depends on who you ask. "
Flame shrugged.
"Very helpful... "
Lomedy crossed his arms.
"Also of Jaden was gonna throw down then he would've told me. "
"Really? You guys haven't talked much recently. "
"I guess but we still friends. "
"Maybe go ask him about it? Incase he wants help or something? "
"Jaden asking for help? Who are you talking about? "
"Good point, but at least it gives you guys an excuse to talk, you know, to keep the fire from dying. "
"Also a good point. "
"So go talk to him? "
"Yea, I'll catch him after school, hopefully before he can try fighting anyone. "
"Alright let me know-"
The bell rings and cuts him off before he can say anything else.
"I'll keep you updated. " Flame chuckled before leaving the club room for class.
"Uh huh. " Lomedy says it right before Flame leaves the room completely.
The rest of the day flew by, with Flame sleeping though his last class despite the new kid, Eggchan, staring at him, practically drilling holes behind his head. But it was nothing Flame really cared about, it was just annoying, old Flame would have tried fighting him but now he just didn't think it was worth it anymore. After the bell finally dismissed them Flame was ready to leave the class before Egg tapped on his shoulder.
"What the-? "
"You really don't remember him, do you? "
"What are you talking about? "
Before Egg could answer a voice called from the hallway.
"Egg let's go! "
This drew both their attention, Egg walked passed Flame as he tried to puzzle together what Egg was trying to tell him. He brushed it off and headed to where he knew Jaden would be, he was surely still in his last class, he always stayed after class till the streets were clear enough for him to skate home, he could fly home but it'd need to be raining so when the sky was clear he would just skate home. Since it was a bright sunny day, he would still be in class.
Flame slid the door open, Jaden and Wilson were there, thankfully without Spongs, who went home early most days.
"Yo, Jaden. "
"Aw hey man! I uhh... Haven't seen you around. "
"Yea I've been having around Lomedy. "
"Are you datin' or something? " Wilson chimed in.
"Nahh you know I don't swing like that. "
"Do we know? " Jaden looked at Wilson with a mocking smile. They laughed briefly before Flame drew back their attention.
"Haha, very funny. I ain't here for that right now. I'm here about you apparently fighting the new kid? "
"Yea, he was pressing me for picking on that Rejoice kid. "
"The hell did Rejoice do? "
"He's just mad annoying. "
"... Alright then. Well, you want me around for this fight? "
"Eehhh, I mean I can probably take this kid, but you can watch if you want. " he winked at Flame, why he did this no one knew, Flame couldn't see Jadens face so everyone just assumed it was a joke of sorts.
"Well where is his fight gonna be? "
"You know that tunnel with the trail? Thats where it's supposedly gonna take place but I lowkey don't think he's gonna show. He looks like a whimp. "
"Really? You think so? He looked pretty intimidating. "
"Shut up Wilson! " Jaden elbowed Wilson before turning back to Flame. Who was unamused. "I'll be fine, I'm not worried."
"Ok, I might show up later in the fight, incase you need help. You know, cuz you always need my help. " Flame grinned, he was obviously joking around.
"You're hilarious. I'll see you around man, I'm assuming you're on your way home. "
"Yea, see you around. "
Flame left the room, leaving the door cracked open on his way out, Jaden was talking about something along the lines of pride or glory but Flame didn't care. He was heading home, it was about a ten minute walk from school, nothing crazy. On his way home though, it was quiet, too quiet, that was untill he heard a rustling in the trees.
"Boo."
Wemmbu swung right infront of Flame, just barely missing him, if Flame didn't hear him beforehand he would have accidentally walked right into him. Wemmbu was hanging upside down from a tree. How long did he wait to do that?
"Shit man! You think this is funny? " Flame growled under his words.
"I think its priceless. "
Wemmbu dropped down, landing on his knees and standing up, brushing the dirt off his pants.
"I got a question for you. "
"You're luck I don't kill you right now. "
"As if you could..." He paused for a minute, thinking about something. "Anyways, you're friends with that guy I'm fighting, right? "
Flame was confused but answered anyways.
"Uhh yea, you could call us that. "
"You want me to call off the fight? "
"What? Why would you ask me for that? "
"Interesting... Any normal person would want to call it off immediately, why're you so hesitant? " his tone was trivial, almost playful, like he already knew the answer.
"You're freaking weird man. "
Flame goes around Wemmbu who only watches him as he walks away, Flame can feel eyes on him, the two behind him and a couple more higher up, he turns his head to wherever he felt the eyes. Even though he couldn't actually see him, Eggchan and Flame were making direct eye contact, Flame was the first to turn away.
This whole day was weird, Flame was ready to just sleep the rest of the day, effectively avoiding the new kids and Jaden, along with every other person who would be at the fight, that's when he realized he never asked when the fight was, it could be minutes or even hours from now and he would have no idea. He texted Jaden, asked when the fight was going to be, he thought about how weird those new kids were, every one of them too. There was apart of him that wanted to see the fight, just to see how strong this new kid really was.
It took a couple minutes but Jaden finally responded to when the fight was going to be "Midnight, he chose the time idk" Flame looked at it, then turned to the clock that said 4:13pm, then turned back to the phone.
F:Im dead ass gonna take a nap
rip if I miss the fight
call me if ur ass needs me to save u
J:bro💔
Flame turned his phone off and went to sleep, he set an alarm for midnight, maybe it was his curiosity about these new kids, or his protective nature over his friends, or maybe it was the unbelievable level of boredom his life had taken on, but he wanted to see this fight.