Coby stood in the center of the cave with the Flame held in his hand, his heart pounding in his chest. Ash’s heartbeat was equally as loud as they stared at the orb between them, nervous about what they were about to do. Coby had asked for its help so many times in the past and been denied, there was no guarantee this time would be any different. Only this time, he wasn’t asking for its help to defeat an enemy, he was requesting its participation in the growth of their energy and skills.

“So,” Ash said after a long minute of tense silence, his gaze fixated on the gently flickering blue flame between them, the red energy skimming around the inside surface as smoothly as water. “How do we do this?”

Coby glanced up at him.

“I mean, is there some sort of spell or phrase we have to say to get it to work?”

“What?” Coby asked, his lips twitching in amused bafflement.

Ash held his hand out over the Flame, and in a low and exaggerated tone, said, “Oh, great spirit of the Flame, we beseech thee to come forth and—”

“Knock it off, you idiot,” Coby sighed, swatting his hand away. Ash chuckled softly.

“Sorry,” he grinned.

“We use our energy to ask for what we want,” Coby said. 

“That’s it?”

He nodded once. “Pretty simple, isn’t it?” he muttered. The Flame sparked, shifting around as though turning to look between the two, filling out and constricting in its mirth. Both of them felt it, both of them knew what it was doing, and both of them frowned.

The Flame was laughing at them.

“Rude,” Ash said under his breath.

“Now you know it’s not just some normal fire in a glass jar,” Coby said sardonically.

Ash wanted to say something snarky in return, but watching the sentient element dancing brightly and cheerfully before them dissuaded him. He took a deep breath, let it out, and held his hands over Coby’s on either side of the orb.

Without another word, they both focused on their energy, sending it toward the Flame, their request for its assistance in their training and growth prevalent in their minds. The glass lit up slightly, and the red energy stopped flowing. Coby felt a wave of anxiety wash through him as they watched it detach from the orb, forming a dome over the Flame, pulsing violently.

Coby retracted his energy quickly, inhaling sharply. Ash watched him, understanding fully what the Flame was telling him.

“Wrong energy,” he said.

Coby swallowed hard. “Guess so,” he replied. “I’m not going to get away from this thing, am I?”

Ash shook his head, not cutting off his own energy flow, the Flame taking it in easily.

“I was afraid of that.” After a moment’s hesitation, he took a deep breath, retracted his natural energy back into the orb within him, and reached into the well that harbored his more powerful, more feared, red energy. A red glow emanated from his hands and around the orb, mixing with Ash’s own soft blue-green glow.

To both Coby’s relief, and despair, the red energy within the orb expanded, wisps and tendrils extending into the Flame, turning it a soft violet. A moment later, the orb began to buzz in Coby’s hands and, as though he’d been shocked, he let it go. They both stared in amazement as they watched the orb hover between them, glowing softly, its energy pulsing gently.

Coby’s eyes went wide and he lifted his gaze to Ash’s, his own look of astonishment painting his face.

“This is a first,” Coby said. 

“What’s it mean?” He felt stupid for even asking; he knew exactly what it meant. 

The Flame was accepting their request, finally deeming Co-Bieasah Turner worthy to wield its power.

“Now what?”

Coby’s expression turned quickly to one of determination. Now,” he said, feeling the Flame’s violet energy fill his body. “We get to work.”

**

Ash was grateful that his stamina and energy had increased as much as it had since his connection to Coby first began, otherwise, he was pretty sure he would have dropped dead by the time classes resumed on Monday.

Every morning, the pair were up before dawn, going for a run down the path down to the beach, into the cave, and through the tunnel that led to their cove, where Coby worked on his undersea skills. As apprehensive of the water as Ash still was, even though he’d been swimming with Coby more frequently, he joined Coby. Either in the water or on the rocks, but never staying on the beach itself.

They focused on their link, improving their awareness to include where the other was at any point in time. When Ash thought he could spot Coby through the link, he’d manipulate the water right above him into a small fountain or whirlpool. Usually he was off by a few meters, but occasionally he was spot on. Coby’s awareness was much more accurate, but only because he’d had more experience with opening and expanding his senses, taking stock of what was around him. When he found Ash, he’d wrap him in a bubble and drag him under the water, something Ash wasn’t necessarily fond of but did his best not to complain too much about.

This was also the best time to work with the Flame since they were completely alone without any distractions. Between the cave and the cove, the two had enough privacy to perform the exercises the Flame demanded of them, exercises that often left Coby shaking and exhausted from the intense power alone. In the first two or three days of their training, one or both of them ended up either vomiting or passing out due to their own energy not being quite strong enough to support what the Flame was passing into them, never mind trying to use it.

However, it wasn’t long before they were both able to not only accept and hold the energy they were being given, but to use it without hurting themselves, each other, or their surroundings. At the same time, Ash could tell Coby was starting to recognize an uncomfortable truth he, himself, had suspected, but neither of them talked about. The one time Ash tried, the look in Coby’s eye was enough to never bring it up again.

The red energy Coby wielded, and the red energy the Flame produced were exactly, without any irregularities at all, the same.

When they were finished with their Flame training, they worked on strength training and cardio before running back home for a large breakfast and a quick shower before heading into town to train with Gema at the warehouse. She was becoming more and more impressed by how quickly and efficiently the two were working not only with their energy, but each other. It was getting to the point where her exercises were becoming too routine, too predictable, so she began bringing more people in to help train them.

First it was another of Coby’s cousins, a merman named Ge-Jin, who was adept at weapon manifestation and fire manipulation, something that was surprising to Ash. 

“We have heat vents and lava flows,” Ge-Jin said with a tiny smirk. “It’s not that uncommon for us to use them when necessary.” He proceeded to fire several flaming arrows Ash’s way, forcing him to put up a body-sized shield before he got skewered. He was also slightly manic, making their sessions unpredictable and frenzied. Ash had to learn quickly to stay on his toes and keep his awareness open at all times. That didn’t mean Ge-Jin didn’t try to take advantage of any blind spots he could find with the human.

Ash liked him immediately.

Another cousin, Re-Moira, was a girl of about sixteen, with flaming red hair and one braid that denoted her position as a young acolyte. She was tough, rude, and had no problem arguing and insulting Ash any time she got the chance. Unsurprisingly, he didn’t like her at all and said as much to Coby.

He grinned. “Don’t worry,” he said with a grin. “None of us do.”

“So why is she helping us again?”

“Because she’s good at what she does and hates Sy-Ohna with a grand passion.” 

When Ash questioned why, Coby didn’t have an answer. 

The last person Gema brought in that Sunday was He-Miona, Gema’s fiance. He was a big man, soft-spoken, kind, but firm and unyielding in his teachings. He, like Re-Moira, didn’t let up on his attacks, but at least his hits weren’t nearly as hard, and he wasn’t condescending or belligerent when Ash or Coby messed up. Between the two of them, Ash was becoming better with hand-to-hand combat, much to Coby’s approval.

“You’re getting faster,” he panted during one intense sparring session, wiping the sweat from under his chin. 

Ash smirked. “Guess it’s your turn to keep up.”

Coby was nothing but a blue streak as he rushed at Ash from across the warehouse, dropping him before he knew what was happening. Coby knelt over him, pinning his arms to the floor.

“I said you were getting faster, not that you were,” he grinned.

Ash groaned, dropping his head to the ground.

The afternoons were spent enjoying the day, either in their cave making love, or goofing off, checking out the market, going to the amusement park or museums, the pier, or hanging out with Colin and a few of Ash’s other friends. Ge-Jin, though he insisted Ash call him “Jin” after the first day of training, also began spending more time on land with them. He and Ash had developed a quick friendship, one Coby greatly encouraged. Ash had told him how Scott didn’t like Ash having friends, particularly guy friends, so in order to make Scott happy, Ash had cut contact with all of them. So much so, very few of them responded when he reached out after the breakup. Scott really didn’t like Ash spending any amount of time with Colin, but Ash didn’t care. That was one friendship he wouldn’t sacrifice for Scott. 

“You deserve to have friends you can talk to and spend time with,” Coby told Ash. “I love all the time I get with you, but you don’t have to spend every waking moment with me.”

There had been a brief flash of something in Ash’s eyes, something Coby couldn’t read, but he suspected it was a tiny bit of doubt. Coby kissed him, running his fingers through his hair.

“I’ll never keep you from your friends and family, iyshta,” Coby reassured him. “I could never be so cruel as that.”

“How cruel can you be?” Ash teased. Coby responded by fucking him out of his mind for over an hour, not allowing him to cum the entire time. When he did, he spent the next fifteen minutes twitching while Coby grinned, eating Ash’s favorite type of cookie and playing with his hair.

“Cruel enough for you?” he said with a devilish grin.

“Such glorious cruelty,” Ash panted, rolling over and resting his head in Coby’s lap, his arms around his waist.

The evenings were devoted to training with Alise, learning new ways to protect themselves against both overt and more subtle magical attacks, and even how to use their own personal barriers as shields. The first time Ash was able to “pulse” his barrier outward, he sent Jin flying across the room into a pile of old lumber. Ash and Coby raced over to him to make sure he was okay, but their worries were unfounded. The merman was laughing, arms and legs akimbo with a gash in his forehead.

“That was amazing, dude!” he howelled. His eyes glinted with mischief, his sharp teeth gleaming as he smiled. “Do it again!” The Turner’s helped him out of the pile, and proceeded to work on their barrier pulses until Ash was exhausted.