But....but what if......very smol childhood friends Azul and Rielle? I'm talking mermaid tots. With the chubby faces and limbs and sometimes stuttering over sentences because they're still young enough to struggle with sentences. Two four/five year old merkids who met one day when Azul was hiding in his octopot and Rielle wandered off because he got curious.
The two of them going on little adventures, searching the sea floor for shells and surface treasures. Their laughter filling those ocean blue waters like something magical. Then one day......Rielle just doesn't come back. Having been caught sneaking out by his parents because his siblings ratted him out. And Azul he doesn't know why Rielle doesn't come back. He waits for him, only to receive heartbreak only a tiny child can experience. Eventually Azul gets older, meets Jade and Floyd, and those memories of that innocent youth fades slightly. Even when he catches glimpses of red hair and a dazzling smile in the classroom, even when hearing his laughter causes his chest to twist funny in a hurt way. Azul moves on.
Or so he believes.
Till he sees him at the tournament. Hears that unmistakable laughter, the one that accompanied those faded fragile childhood memories. He's next to someone, Minajael. Kalim's beloved cousin and someone Jamil's not a fan of. Jamil calls to Minajael and gets a tired look from him, and it's at that moment he looks at Azul. Those eyes, big and blue like the waves they once played in, glittering in the sunlight. His hair wild and windswept like the air played with his unruly red locks. It's at that moment Azul remembers it a bit clearer.
That gentle hand in his, the smile and eyes that always showed so much warmth whenever he saw the octopus merchild. Those days spent in the sandy bottom of the ocean, surrounded by seaweed and brightly colored coal and sunshine. And it's his voice saying his name so happily, so warm and friendly, that brings that buried heartbreak.
Why did he leave? When he still smiles at Azul like he's so important? Why did he not come back? What did Azul do wrong to make Rielle abandon him? All of these questions he'd never asked in years now in the full front of his mind. As well as a realization. That he still adored that smile from the merman prince. That he still loved those eyes that crinkled with his smile. That he still after all these years just wanted answers.
That Azul Ashengrotto still deep down loved Rielle Corallia.
And he hated it.
