Protector, Protector (BL)

Chapter 7-Part 1

A few weeks had finally passed, and Azame was finally getting settled back into the routine of school and classwork. It beat their summers where they looked for work to rent out an apartment, just until school started up. As always, Azame had found trouble in the simplest matter. Now, he was running away from said trouble. In his defense, they shouldn’t make it so easy to wreak havoc.

Running down the cobblestone path towards the dormitories, Azame had a few seconds to pause and marvel at the world around him. The grass grew plentiful and green, vibrant against the dark mud and dirt. The sunshine was warm on his back, soaking into his dark colors like a heated blanket. He enjoyed that. Being warm. When the snow-packed in heavily on the mountain tops, it was hard to even think that he’d see spring again. Winter was always too dark, too dreary. It weighed down heavily on his soul.

Now, though, he could see the birds roosting in the trees above his head. They blended in with the thick, green leaves and the spruce trees' spiny limbs. The sunlight filtered in through those trees like rays and he could feel the energy in his soul refilling as he ran. He smiled as he kicked his heels higher against the ground, tearing off the cobblestone path in a hurry towards a smaller path made of the soft, dead needles that had fallen far from their owners. Here, close to the old shed where groups of boys would loiter to break rules, he could get lost. Where they’d smoke and experience their youth in vibrancy. The thick forest came up right behind the shed and spread out over hundreds of miles. He kicked up leaves as he rounded the old, weathered shed with its peeling white paint and hanging doors. As he passed the back, three boys looked up at him in shock before swiftly hiding their cigarettes behind their backs.

Azame tipped his imaginary hat to them before disappearing into the forest. He wasn’t afraid. The things chasing him weren’t the same monsters that had come to his home years ago. It was something he could handle on his own without the need of Ajax’s steady hand.

“There he is!” He heard someone shout behind him before he heard someone trip with a curse.

Now, Azame was starting to slide down the soft slopes of dead leaves and broken branches. He tore through bristle bushes and felt the prickly fruits hang onto the bottom of his jacket. He couldn’t stop the chuckle that bubbled its way up through him.

“Get him!”

He turned sharply to the left where the slope drastically changed directions. His muscles were on fire as he ran back up the mountains, through a short open grove before it plunged right back into covered foliage. He wasn’t far out from his destination. A bubbling stream that ran haphazardly through the mountainside. It was the last remnants of the previously hard winter and the thick, deep flurries of snow. The water ran clear, as if it sparkled, against the mountain’s sharp rocks and boulders. Despite the sediment it carried down, the water was safe to drink. That wasn’t the reason Azame had chosen to go there. At least not this time.

Being a Siren, he frequented large bodies of water often. It was vital for healing and refreshing his soul and powers. His people had once been water-oriented so he had immaculate bearings for the stuff. He could smell water miles away, but that amazing sense stopped there. It could heal him though, minor scrapes and wounds. If his life hung in peril, though, he was S.O.L. He knew the second he’d arrived and he ran along the side of the stream as it went downwards, towards the waterfall.

Behind him, the group that had been chasing him were nearing. He could see their heads appearing between the thick foliage and the trees. Azame’s feet came to a stop at the edge of the rocky ledge leading down towards the pool of water. He stood beside the free fall that was the crystal waterfall. Below him was a 15-meter drop into a deep pool of the mountain’s cool water. Azame sighed defeatedly as he looked at his new uniform.

“AZAME!” Isaac snapped as he scrambled down the slope and came to a stop a few feet from the boy. “Delete them. Now!”

“Hm?” Azame asked with a tilt of his head as he reached deep into his jacket pockets. He pulled out his phone and brandished the images he so cleverly took two days ago. “These ones? Does that mean I’m the bully now?”

Isaac’s face was burning hot with rage. His goonies took a step towards Azame like they had everything in them to scare him. Azame reached into his pocket once more and pulled out a small plastic baggy, shaking it in their faces. He slipped the phone inside and sealed it tight.

“What… what the f**k are you doing?” Isaac snapped. His eyebrows were pulled together tight like a string and the scowl on his face was extremely unattractive against what would otherwise, be an attractive face.

Underneath the warm, silvery rays of light from the afternoon sun, Isaac was extremely attractive. In fact, Isaac was the top tier of the most handsome boys at the academy. As said by the girl’s dormitory to the north. He had soft, curly dirty blonde hair. Not the kind that was out of control, but the kind that looked manicured to give texture to his otherwise straight hair. He had the slightest dusting of freckles against his pale skin and the most crystal clear hazel eyes that he’d ever seen. He would have been quite the eye-catcher if he wasn’t a disaster of a human being in personality.

“Well,” Azame commented dryly as he patted the pocket that now held his phone. “I don’t want my phone to get wet.”

“Delete the photos first,” Isaac growled. “We can make your life a living hell.”

“Aish, you already do. Don’t you? You guys are a bunch of jackasses,” Azame groaned, tossing his head back in irritation. It made his wild messy hair flop in the warm breeze that drafted just ever so slightly between the trees. During the summer, it was insanely hot. The kind of heat that would beat down on you through the leaves and make sweat roll down your back as if it was raining. His black hair would be plastered to his forehead like tape. But as fall was approaching, the boiling heat had abated ever so slightly. Just enough to trigger the leaves to start changing early.

“We can make it worse,” Isaac warned, but the twitch of his eyebrow revealed the bluff easy enough. Azame may have been trapped, but Isaac knew that there was more to come. He always knew. Azame was unpredictable.

Sure, Azame was bullied by a group of assholes, but they didn’t have to make it so fun. They set themselves up for their own failures and all it took was a slight tap of Azame’s fingers and their clever plans and their simple taunts blew up in their faces. It kept it interesting. Isaac could never turn away and neither could Azame. They hated each other for that because Azame didn’t roll over and show his belly to the taller boy. And Isaac? He was forever entwined with Azame’s asshole nature. That made him angry. Which made Azame proud. They trapped each other within their own orbits, forever spinning around the other like a chaotic star system.

Azame stepped back further against the rocky ledge. He could feel the edge where the rock ended and the drop started. He wasn’t that far away. One more step and he’d fall and be free of whatever ‘entrapment’ the group had planned for him. He met Isaac’s eyes and there was the measly hint of caution. Was Azame really gutsy enough to jump? Yes, Azame truly was.

“We got him now,” one of the other boys, merely cannon fodder, laughed as they neared him.

Apparently, the boys never watched one of those horribly cliched movies before. The second they said ‘we got him now', they most certainly did not. The hero, obviously Azame in this instant, would pull off some clever plan and live another day.

“No, you don’t,” Azame replied with a shrug before he held his arms out and fell backward.

His wrist was grabbed sharply before he could even pass the rocky edge, causing the momentum to shoot up his arms and smack him into the side of the rocky edge. He grit his teeth the second his knees scraped against the solid ledge and cut them open. Above him, he heard someone scrabble for purchase against the slick edge. Sediment and pebbles had filled up the ledge over the years and created quite the slick surface. Isaac held firmly, though, with his eyebrows pinched together in concentration.

“Does killing yourself seem like your best option?” Isaac snapped, but it was clear he was starting to lose his hold on Azame’s wrist. Around him, the waterfall raged with all of its intensity, spraying them with water, and Isaac couldn’t hold on for much longer. His other hand grabbed a hold of Azame’s wrist, digging his nails into the soft and tender flesh. That f*****g hurt you crazy son of a b***h! Azame thought bitterly.

“Let go,” Azame hissed, trying to reach up and pry himself loose. “I’ll survive.”

“Maybe,” Isaac retorted with just as much fire in his voice as Azame. “Or maybe you’ll crack your head on the rocks below and die. Then I’ll have to explain why the school’s crazy boy committed suicide right in front of me.”

“Holy s**t,” Azame commented because Isaac’s eyes weren’t filled with crazy. They were filled with… “You’re scared.”

“What?” Isaac grit out, but it seemed he was getting ever so closer to the edge. “I’m not…”

He was very worried, in fact, his face was strained. He genuinely thought that Azame was trying to kill himself and he alone was the only one holding him over the edge. It was shocking. Isaac was capable of emotions other than his douche self and that he could care about another human being’s wellbeing? That was definitely not in the little handbook Azame made a year ago to give to freshmen. He’d underlined the sentence Isaac Harrison is the ultimate douche bag, steer clear of him. His brow is used only for mockery and he is devoid of any real human feelings. Azame should know because he wasn’t even human so he could observe from far away and understand. Ah, he missed his handbook so much. It got shredded last year once one of the freshmen tipped Isaac off and they had a fight about it. In the middle of a hallway. When Isaac went to punch him, Azame ducked under and Isaac punched the English teacher instead. Who had been trying to break up the fight?

Long story short, they had to ‘get along’ for a whole month or risk expulsion. That and a lot of ‘volunteer’ work around the grounds. Which was both hilarious and hell. First off, Isaac was an i***t and couldn’t use a broom right. Second off, working with Isaac was hell. Azame would rather sell his soul to Satan than do that again. Once the month was over, the pair were back at each other’s throats like normal.

“Look, f**k, I’m sorry. You come back up, delete the photos and I won’t ever come near you again. You have my word,” Isaac whispered, reaching his other hand over to grasp tightly to the only wrist the poor boy had a hold of. “Just don’t…”

Azame felt terrible, which was a really weird feeling. Isaac had no way of knowing that the drop was well within the means that Azame could survive. This break of character for him was too wrong, and it made the guilt settle like a bad egg deep in his gut. That look in Isaac’s eyes was wrong. The fear, like he saw someone die before. Azame knew that look all too well.

The only thing Azame knew to do because the grip on his wrist was like iron and was digging into his skin, was pull Isaac over with him. “I’m sorry, too.”

He got his feet underneath him and kicked off from the wall. He yanked hard and Isaac finished sliding over the ledge before following him down. The poor boy screamed, pathetically, but Azame vowed to forget that. For now. He positioned his back towards the water and held Isaac close to his chest. The fall happened in less than ten seconds, but Azame managed to cushion Isaac’s face with his own body.

“Hold your breath,” Azame whispered right as they hit the water.

The shock of the water was dispersed almost completely through Azame’s back and he managed to push away from the other boy. He kicked off towards the surface and breached a little further downstream. They were now well away from where the ledge was and his piece of s**t friends. Azame reached down into the water and finally caught purchase of Isaac’s uniform. He dug his nails in deep and hefted the boy up and out of the water with a gasp before tugging him up onto the softer pointing rocks. He finally heaved himself up after him and rolled onto his back with a heave.

“What the hell,” Isaac said, finally catching his breath. “You could have gotten us both killed. f*****g idiot.”

“I know my limits, that wasn’t that bad of a fall,” Azame replied simply, turning his head towards Isaac. Isaac was already looking at him with his brows pinched together. It was hard to read what exactly was starting to show on his face. Rage, Contempt, Isaac wasn’t simple to read for once. The boy’s eyes finally closed.

His thick hair hung in tangled, soppy strings around his face and water droplets raced down his chin. He hadn’t moved yet, so Azame moved first. He sat up and scooted over towards the other before patting down his chest. His eyes flashed open once more and a hand caught Azame’s.

“What the f**k are you doing?” He snapped and Azame rolled his eyes.

“People like you might break a rib coming down,” Azame replied simply before removing his hands slowly. “Just checking to see if you broke anything. I’m not jumping your bones.”

Isaac finally smacked Azame’s hands away before sitting up. He stood slowly and stretched his arms up above his head. He glanced up at the waterfall before huffing. “How do I get back up there?”

“This way,” Azame answered with a nod towards a thick treeline. “It leads up to a rocky area we can climb.”

He took off, expecting Isaac to follow. Azame rubbed at his neck, which was sore from the strain and he sighed pathetically.

__________

“You do this often,” Isaac commented from behind. It’d been almost an hour since he’d last spoken, so Azame had almost forgotten he was even there. Almost.

“What?” Azame clarified. “You mean the whole waterfall thing?”

“Yeah, that, what did you think I meant?” Isaac snapped before he sighed once more.

Azame sighed inwardly, as he glanced up at the distance left to travel. He decided to entertain Isaac for a short amount of time. “I do. In fact, I frequent this area a lot.”

“Why? How did you even know that waterfall was safe to jump off of?” Isaac asked cautiously. “Did you find it accidentally?”

Or on purpose? He could hear the words as if Isaac had physically said them, and they were loud. Unlocking the tragic backstory, I see. Azame thought bitterly. In fact, Azame had found the area on a bad day. On one of his worst days when even Ajax couldn’t find a way to cheer him up. He’d had nightmares all night long and then took a leave from school because the thought of focusing on anything other than what was going on was too hard. It was impossible. Ajax had offered to stay behind but Azame had waved him off. He was good at that. Ajax blamed himself for what happened that night and Azame didn’t believe he should burden the boy much further. It was understandable. Azame had been scared that night, terrified, he couldn’t imagine what Ajax had felt. He had to face that beast. Ajax was expected to but he hadn’t, he couldn’t and that would never be Ajax’s fault. So the grief and pain that Azame felt would never be Ajax’s responsibility either.

So Azame had sought out a place where he could be himself. During the winter, it had been cold and bitter. The snow had piled in where they were and it had been up to his ankles. The snow had drifted over the ledges and blew its frigid powder into his face. He’d only tucked his coat in tighter and kept trekking. At that time, it wasn’t the cold wind that blinded him, it was his own frozen tears that he couldn’t stop because his grief had been strong. He grieved for his family and he grieved what they couldn’t. What they never would.

He found the waterfall and he’d stood over it while debating how far down it was. The lake that was towards the west of the school had frozen over, but the waterfall remained gushing and rapid. The snow bent the light and made it impossible to figure out how far the drop was or what lay beneath it. He shedded his clothing anyway and had jumped off. Maybe deep down, as he hit the water, he’d wanted to die. He wanted the images to stop, the feelings that made his grief so much harder to bear. So perhaps, Azame had jumped recklessly, praying for any kind of relief he could find.

Instead, the second he hit the water, he felt clarity. Solace. Peace had eased its way through his veins and up to his head, which felt like it was constantly on fire. It became his special place. The adrenaline of falling felt good and then the water made it better. A deep inherent part of a Siren still held water close to their hearts. It was the tune they sang, the only thing that connected them to each other. Azame could feel all the other Sirens in the water. He could feel their soft embrace, their gentle guidance. They shared grief that no other could understand. Lost friends, lost family, and places that seemed so alien to them they could never truly fit in. They missed each other like crazy. Only another Siren could look into the darkness with Azame, and only could another Siren face the horrors they did. They longed for each other, and they longed for their home where the original Sirens came from. Azame found himself missing that home, too. One he never knew, but one that felt so deep in his soul.