Maledictus Ignis

Friends

Cole woke up and stretched out, accidently bumping Dustin in the side.

"Huh?" Cole said sleepily.

He looked over to see that Dustin was still there on the bed with him, cuddled into a ball, from the look on his face it was clear he cried himself to sleep.

"Aw.. Dustin.. you gotta find some confidence." Cole said in an uncharacteristically caring way, he got up as quietly as he could and tucked Dustin in.

I need to find Luke.

Before leaving the emergency room he went to use the bathroom. 

After using it he looked in the mirror and looked at his tattoos on his arm and saw just how far it'd spread since the last time.

"Huh..." Cole carefully examined it, then a sad expression appeared on his face.

What would he think..?

In a moment of emotion he ripped the sleeve off his shirt fully exposing it for all to see.

Cole smiled for a moment, satisfied with his decision. 

Until his happiness was replaced with anger.. he was so angry that someone could just end the life of Adrian like that, he looked in the mirror his blue eye burning with the blue flames of hatred.

"I'll kill him." Cole said in a dark voice that wasn't his own.

A knock on the door snapped him out of it.

"Oh- I'll be out in a sec!" Cole washed his hands and when he left the bathroom it was Dustin at the door.

"Oh, hey." Said Dustin.

He looked at his arm then back at him.

"Hey." Cole responded.

"So.. are you.. doing okay?" Dustin asked.

"Yeah.. I'm fine, I should be asking if your ok. I haven't had the chance to talk to you about it really." Cole said.

"Oh, it's hard to be sure but I'll be ok, we both will."

 Or at least that's what Dustin wanted to say, instead he just sat there silently thinking about the question for far too long, before Cole had to say something.

"Hey, look if you don't want to talk about it that's alright I understand." Cole said breaking the silence.

"Oh.. sorry, I didn't even realize.. guess old habits die hard huh?" Dustin said somewhat joking.

Cole chuckled.

"You always were bad with words." Cole put his hand on his shoulder and gave him a reassuring smile.

"Heh.. guess so." Dustin said.

"Let's talk about this later and not in front of the bathroom you know? I'm gonna go look for Luke." Cole explained.

"Sure." Dustin nodded.

Cole waved bye to Dustin and walked out into the bar, it was full of some very strange looking people who all had some sort of disability about them but he didn't pay it much mind, some people gave him some strange looks but he ignored them, going to the front he saw the bartenders and figured that was the best place to start.

"Well well well, look who it is! How can I help ya?" Alexis said to Cole.

"Hey, I'm looking for the Luke guy around here, do you know where he is?" Cole asked.

"Hm.. maybe try going out by the prowess gym, he might be training there, that's what he usually does to clear his head." Alexis explained to him.

"Prowess gym?" Cole looked confused as all hell.

Grayson finished up with a customer and came over.

"Now look who's leaving out details Lexi." Grayson said.

"What do you mean, I told him exactly what he needed to hear." She defended.

"He hasn't been out of the bar yet, he doesn't know what this place looks like." Grayson said.

"Oh..." Alexis realized.

"Ok, Cole right? After leaving the bar turn left and walk until you see a playground on your right, it should be in front of a beach, then the prowess gym will be just a little further down the street." Said Grayson.

"Hm.. sounds simple enough. Thanks." Cole said.

"No problem buddy, good luck out there." Alexis said cheerfully.

"You didn't even help." Grayson said.

Cole walked away and as he did, he thought about how Alexis reminded him of Adrian.

I like that lady.

Exiting the bar, the first thing he saw was a large hotel in front of him. To his right was rows of houses and to his left more houses.

"This way then." Cole said.

Walking to the left, he saw the playground the bartender mentioned, it had kids playing on it with their parents as well, they looked so happy. The beach behind them was also full of people, some riding on the waves, some people lie trying to get a tan, while some teenagers play volleyball a little bit further down the beachline.

How stereotypical.

He thought.

The gym should be a bit further down this way... there it is.

He walked up to the prowess gym, a large blue building with windows in the front and none elsewhere, it had at least 5 floors on it which was unusual. Due to an incident in the past, prowess gyms with multiple floors were decommissioned and no longer being built, this must've been an older model.

Cole walked in to see many people talking to each other, all of them looked happy, but as soon as he entered it got noticeably quieter and he could tell they were looking at him. 

Awkward as it was he walked up to the front desk and spoke to the lady there.

"Hey, I'm looking for someone named Luke." Cole said plainly.

She looked a little nervous but answered him.

"Oh sorry he just left, but you can probably catch him up on the bench at the top of the hill just outside of town, just turn left and go straight and you'll find it." She said.

"Right, thanks." Cole said.

Man everyone here is so weird, why do they keep looking at me like that?

Cole exited the gym to find Dustin about to enter.

"Dustin? What're you doing here?" Cole asked.

"Oh, hey Cole, I was just looking for you." Dustin said.

"What for?" Cole says.

"Well I got kinda bored and I don't really know anyone in there so I just came to find you." Explained Dustin.

"Understandable, lets go." Cole said walking towards the hill.

-Sunset-

"Did you end up finding your brother?" Dustin asks.

"My brother? You mean Luke? Not yet, the front desk lady said he's probably up on this hill over here." He points ahead of them.

"Hm, what d'you think of this place so far?" Dustin asks.

"It's alright, but the people are kinda strange.." Cole looks a little confused.

"Agreed, they do look strange but there's good reason for it you know." Dustin begins.

"Hm? I wasn't talking about how they look, I meant how everyone keeps looking at me, like I'm so strange, they almost look scared of me sometimes." Cole explained.

"Oh.. well that's weird." Dustin said.

-After an awkward silence-

"So.." Dustin begins.

"You ready to talk now?" Asked Cole.

"Yeah." Said Dustin.

Cole and Dustin talk about their lost friend, sharing memories together as they make their way up to Luke at the top of the hill.