"Hanging a little tight there." Mikel smiled while a little alicorn prince stuck onto him in a tight hug.
"I missed you so much!" Mike was grinning from ear to ear.
"Can't say I didn't." With a raise of his arm he embraced the prince back. "Nice wings? Horn is pretty cool too, I wish I was conscious back then."
"You don't know how much this means to me." Mike tightened his grip around his friend more determined. "I forgive you."
"Forgive me?"
"You thought to take me with you that day, that is all I could ever ask for." Mike's eyes seemed to sparkle in the dim light.
"I can't admit it." Mikel chuckled while running his fingers through his best friend's hair
"Admit what?" Mike immediately pouted, eager for an answer.
"That I'm always thinking of you and that dumb liar." With those words the thief was once more showered with much more affectionate nuzzles.
"But why did you do it?" The alicorn wondered.
"I wish I knew what I did. Are you sure it was me?" Mikel tilted his head when suddenly his best friend's expression darkened.
"I wish it wasn't…"
He could only laugh without any mirth. "You won't tell me huh?"
Mike quickly shook his head before leaning his head into the man's chest seemingly searching. Mikel suddenly grabbed his horn and adjusted the prince's head towards his heart.
"You could have just asked.." His sigh was the only thing filling their silence while releasing his friend's horn and instead holding onto his head.
"Did Kemal bring us here?" Mike mumbled while keeping his ear pressed against best friend's heart.
"Yes, just like me, he can't leave you out of sight." The man laughed with a spark of joy.
"So I'm finally safe again?" He smiled.
"When were you ever in danger, you royal pain." With that smug remark Mike's ears twitched once he could hear his best friend's heart beat faster.
"I have a favour."
—
"Katil didn't come home?" Kemal yawned while dressing up to fully cover his body.
"He will." Kier growled while trying to undress his mate once more.
"No." The smaller man flicked his scales. "I have to cover them up."
His dragon seemed clearly displeased and coiled his tail tightly around his hips once more.
"Everyone should know who you belong to."
"Your entire crew knows!"
"Your friend's included." Kier puffed before following Kemal out the room.
"You're so stubborn!" The smaller man scolded while making his way towards the deck.
The sun was already high up in the air since he slept long past the morning.
While shipmates were already cleaning and checking their ship there were two strangers standing in the middle of the boat in an awkward pose.
"Kemal!" Prince Kioshi smiled while Mikel moved to hide behind him.
"Are they allowed to stay?" He asked his dragon once more, this time fully confident in the answer.
"My ship is yours." He turned to glare at the thief but raised his eyebrow at Kioshi.
His tail immediately moved to clutch more tightly around his mate with empty eyes before turning away with a growl.
"Boyfriend?" Mikel raised his eyebrow but Kemal only shrugged.
"Something like that."
"We heard the ship is going to dock tonight, we won't get kicked out right?" Mike beamed.
"Not at all, I'm glad to have you here. How are you feeling?"
The prince tilted his head around before responding. "Pretty good!"
I wonder where Azul is…
"But can I ask that we keep my brothers safe too?" He nervously added, snapping Kemal out of his thoughts.
SIBLINGS!?
"Why should I care?" He immediately frowned.
With a loud whine Mike grabbed onto Kemal making the other freeze. "Come on! I'll give you money!"
"I already have that!" He quickly dismissed his offer.
A few eyes were watching them for quite some time, so getting all cuddly with an alicorn prince wasn't really on his bingo card.
"Come and talk with me somewhere else, tell us about everything." Kemal was the first to move, venturing towards a more secluded area of the ship as his friends followed, leaving Kier and his deep scowl behind.
"If we just info dump about most of it we don't have to guess each other's tales." He explained further.
"Then I should probably begin, since I have a bounty and all that.." Mikel frowned, making sure to recall everything accordingly.
.
.
.
"And that's what happened to me." Kemal waved with an eyeroll while the prince pouted, visibly upset.
"You're not gonna replace me with a fire shifter are you?" He stomped while Mikel placed his palm on his back reassuringly.
"You'd still have Mikel, also, in case you forgot I have dragon men."
"But they can't compete with me! Azul clearly does!" Mike was about to throw himself for a tight hug but Kemal quickly dodged.
"You think we should worry about that Lynn fella?" He continued while keeping the prince away with one arm.
"It might help our situation, Mike won't talk and I have no idea what I did." Mikel yanked the fussing man away only to get hugged instead.
"I would love to know what happened, not just that. I wanna know who I am." Kemal added while gesturing towards the alicorn.
"And I don't know how we can go on if we don't even know a piece of our past. What if I also have a crazy ex like a certain someone."
"I'm telling you! It's the former owner of this body." The thief rolled his eyes.
"But where do you wanna go?" Mike tilted his head and finally released his friend.
"Any ideas?" Kemal asked while turning to face Mikel.
"Hm." He hummed while biting his nail. "Well Mike talked about a huge ravine and so did the guard in his explanation. Maybe sending one of us there is a good way."
"Where else?" The prince tilted his head.
"Let's use Mike as a decoy." Kemal suddenly spoke while grabbing his shoulder.
His friend immediately perked up at the thought of being useful.
"Ah! Because of the shadow dude! Nice thinking!" The thief praised almost instantly while Kemal tapped his finger on his chin.
"And where do we send our third person?" Mike immediately pondered.
"The ravine, our decoy, and…."
"THE FOREST!" Mikel immediately sprung up.
"There's a lot of forest." Mike shook his head and Mikel immediately gave him a flick to his hip.
"The one where I got touchy with a merman."
"So you're sending ME to the ravine!" Kemal immediately hissed.
"Listen, if there is one person with the biggest attitude followed by undeserved intelligence, it's you. You have two whole dragons, a fire shifter, and a ship! You clearly made some moves to survive." Mikel immediately argued.
His friend immediately twirled his hair with a cocky chuckle.
"I think he's flattered." Kioshi applauded when suddenly he saw his friend raise his hand.
Almost instantly Mike moved his head to rest it on the man's palm.
"Well, I guess you're right." Kemal remarked while rubbing his chin. "I can try and get help."
"ME!" A multiplied voice screams from far.
A fireball immediately charged towards Kemal and formed into a man before crashing into him.
"You!" Mike immediately whined while trying to pry him off.
"SIT!"
Almost instantly two men kneeled onto the ground while glaring at each other.
"Unbelievable." Mikel scoffed, giving his friend a knowing look.
Despite not grasping entirely why the other is upset Kemal still managed to be offended.
"You're the worst!" He immediately accused.
"YOU HAVE THEM KNEELING LIKE DOGS!" The other rebutted almost instantly.
"See! This is why it isn't working out! I act like such a bitch! Why!?" Kemal stomped the deck beneath him earning him two concerned looks.
"The way you act is perfectly acceptable." They both mused at once.
"How about I let the entire crew see you both kneeling?"
As if guilty the both turn their heads away in silence.
"It's not your fault." Mikel reassured.
"You're right, IT'S YOURS!"
Before another argument could unfold the two men got up.
"So I can follow you to the ravine?" Azul spoke.
"What the.." Mike frowned at this creature's weird voice.
"Don't be jealous." Mikel whispered into the prince's ear.
Kemal was about to simply nod but something sparked in his memory, a rather passionate memory.
I don't need Azul…
"You're going with the thief." He was suddenly determined.
"WHAT!?" All three men burst almost instantly for different reasons.
"Listen, this man has a high bounty, you have to keep an eye on him for me." Kemal whispered in Azul's ear, his warm breath sending a chill down his spine.
"You're the only one I can trust, you're strong, smart, and you never let your prey go." He purred while Azul's pupils returned.
"You believe in me? That sounds super risky.." The shifter mumbled while clasping his hands together.
"You're worth the risk." Kemal patted his shoulder.
Mike was about to speak up but Mikel covered his mouth.
Mikel and Kemal shot each other a spiteful look before nodding.
"I'll do it." Azul nodded before swishing over to the thief's side.
"What about me?" Mike pouted clearly frustrated.
"You're safe and sound, even if I can't say the reason out loud." He sighed.
"He's right, you know." Mikel reassured with a strong pat. "Remember, you're one of us."
The prince seemed to relax and crossed his arms in one final act of defiance.
"Who will you go with?" Azul immediately questioned.
"Don't worry about it." Kemal grinned.
—
"THE CAPTAIN RETURNED!!" The other ship began roaring and cheering as a large dragon approached with a roar.
"CAPTAIN!" Azul barked.
"Katil!" Kemal smiled.
Kier was beside him swishing his tail while the two strangers were a few steps away.
Just as the large beast was about to sink the ship its body morphed to his more human form with a large stretch.
"Where's my brother?" He immediately demanded while the crew pointed at Kier's ship.
Without hesitation the man walked past the plank and approached his sibling with a few bruises, only stopping once to smile at his mate with a satisfied smirk.
"We plan on docking?" Katil questioned.
"We're out of supplies." The twin immediately explained.
The black scaled dragon immediately shook his head. "We can't, they're waiting for us to dock."
Kier was about to speak up but Kemal tugged at his arm.
"If it's us you're worried about, you shouldn't be. We'll depart before you guys dock." He nodded at them.
"Go where?" Katil frowned.
Kier decided to guide his brother away to explain.
"Memory loss.." The black dragon frowned.
Once they both returned back to Kemal's side they both turned to the trio further away.
Mikel immediately waved with a smile. While Mike instantly turned his head away like a guilty mistress. Azul immediately wagged his fiery tail.
"I wanted to talk to you both at the same time." Kemal took their attention once more.
"Go on." Kier's tail immediately began wagging.
"As you can tell, those two aren't just two strangers." The smaller man immediately began explaining. "Altough I can't remember why and how we still have a bond I can't shake off."
"I don't think I can let them go just yet, not after we just reunited. But.."
His head turned away while he was in thought.
"I didn't wanna lie to the both of you, I just don't think it's right that you two are left in the dark about everything so I wanna explain our plan when you have the time."
"Now." The dragons spoke at once.
"Now!?" Kemal was immediately taken aback.
"You'll explain now so we can prepare accordingly." Katil hummed.
"It's best we inform certain ship members after, so they can assist." Kier added.
Twins are so creepy..
"Just let me explain first.." He interrupted their weirdo ranting.