Blue Fire in the Eyes

The Deep End

"Alright, Alcor." Bill announced, circling his offspring. "You may have learned a thing or two from Will, but you're yet to even begin to master all of your powers." The golden-eyed creature gestured to Will; the demon watching them from the sidelines with attentive, curious eyes. "What have you taught him?"

"He has a handy amount of balance in handling his fire." Will stated, his relaxed expression not changing, but his words were warm with pride. "Not to the extent of an expert, but if attacked I believe Alcor could hold himself steady."

"That all?" Bill questioned, and Alcor's gaze flicked up in surprise at the older demon who was staring at Will for another response. Somehow, that statement had hurt.

Will seemed to be surprised too, and Bill frowned as the blue demon's eyes suddenly steeled. "Will?"

"Yes." The blue demon whispered, nodding. "That is all that he's just about perfected. He has started training in teleportation and materialization. He had materialize small things; pens, cups, rocks. Not anything larger than a book, yet, and no living organisms, but we're getting there. His levitating skills are also as top notch as they always are."

"That's good." Mused Bill, giving Alcor an approving smile. "Good job, Pine Tree."

The brunette nodded, unable to fight back the grin that split across his face at the fraise. It quickly diminished, though, as the blonde demon adopted a calculating look as he examined his offspring.

"Will, what's his status at manipulating dreams? Can he enter them? Warp them?" Bill mused, and Alcor instantly sobered, a shadowed, blank look overcasting his eyes as he averted his gaze away from Bill's own.

The blue demon hesitated. "Well." He mumbled. "No, not from what I've seen, not yet."

Bill slowly nodded, and Alcor had to at least attempt to swallow down the embarrassment in his throat.

"We'll get there." Bill soothed in a monotoned voice, noticing Alcor's expression. "Don't worry, Pine Tree. You're a dream demon, after all."

Will nodded along to his brother, smiling. "Yes. The latest flower blooms the prettiest."

Alcor offered a smile towards the blue demon.

There were a few beats of silence as Bill flicked his golden eyes between the two of them before he cleared his throat, his mood suddenly swaying into a more bitter tone. "Alcor." He said curtly, and his offspring turned to look at him. "Let's work on that fire of yours."

——

Will calmly caught up to Bill in one of the many walls of the Fearamid, hours after Alcor's training, a soft look on his face as he smiled awkwardly at his twin. "Hello, Bill."

Said demon blinked, mildly startled at his brother's appearance, but deciding to humor him anyways. "Hello, Will." He turned his bright eyes towards Will's unwavering own. "Say, I thought you left somewhere in between Alcor's training session."

The blue demon slowly nodded. "Yes, I did. I didn't want to be caught by my masters by staying for too long." He explained. "I wasn't planning on returning today, but the twins are asleep, and we haven't had a one-on-one discussion yet."

Bill rolled his eyes at that, and Will sheepishly stammered to elaborate. "W-well, you've been gone for so long, and I just really felt like the two of us should just have a nice, classic talk. Ya'know?"

"Okay." The yellow demon drawled dryly. "Humor me."

Will sighed, and Bill briefly considered apologizing for his tone, but before he could come to a conclusion, the blue demon spoke up. "How have you been?"