Chapter 7: Old Friend

 

       The two woke up around the same time. Neither of them really said much to each other as they got ready to get moving again. Lucifer watched as Haven stood up, smirking a little.

       “So have you figured out how you're going to repay me for savin' your life yet?” Lucifer asked as he slowly stood up.

       “No, I guess not,” Haven replied. “I might think of something though.”

       “Well, I think I might know of a way,” Lucifer said in a slightly seductive manner as he threw his arms around the younger male's neck from behind.

       Haven's cheeks turned a light shade of red before he pulled away.

       “Let's just focus on escaping, all right?” said Haven.

       Lucifer watched Haven enter the vine thicket before shrugging and following him. The two walked for about five hours before coming to the fringes of the forest. They stood there for a moment and scanned the vast plains that stretched on before them to make sure there weren't any possible bounty hunters or mercenaries. Seeing that there wasn't anyone in sight, they exited the wooded area and started walking through the grasslands.

       The two spent the next few days crossing through the large plains. As they did so, Haven's feelings started to change a little more towards Lucifer. He was starting to find himself liking the older male a little more, though he just considered it as a real good friendship, denying what the feelings truly were. Not only that, but he was also starting to feel more confident that Lucifer would actually maybe be able to change after all. They hadn't came to another town though, so there was really no way to put Lucifer to the test to see if he really was going to stop stealing and all the other bad things he did.

       When it was about noon on the fourth day, Lucifer announced that they had finally made it past the border and that they were now in the southern half of the continent. Haven was a little glad about this because it could possibly mean that they might have an easier time escaping. However, Lucifer thought otherwise. He knew that the mercenaries still wouldn't give up as long as they remained on the continent.

       Haven and Lucifer continued to walk. Later that day, at about sundown, a town slowly came into view over the horizon. The brown-haired boy glanced towards the older male every now and then as they slowly made their way in the direction of the town, wondering if Lucifer actually would be able to change. He then shook his head a tad to clear his mind of such thoughts, certain that he could trust Lucifer on this.

       When they reached the town, they walked the somewhat crowded streets without a worry of Lucifer getting caught. The man was completely unknown of in the south, so they didn't have to worry about anyone recognizing him as the greatest criminal alive. They didn't really think about any mercenaries being here either, or at least not for a good while anyway.

       “Hey Lucifer,” came a masculine voice about a minute later.

       Lucifer looked over to see a man with a mop of brown hair and green eyes walking towards him. The smile on his face grew larger upon recognizing him.

       “Hey Ace,” the spiky-haired man greeted. “Long time no see.”

       “Yeah, it sure has been a while hasn't it? I take it you're just passing by?”

       “Yeah. We can't really stay too long.”

       Ace glanced towards Haven when Lucifer gave a small motion towards him upon saying, “we.”

       “Well, while you're here, why don't you and I talk a little and catch up on old times?”

       Lucifer looked at Haven, waiting to see if it was okay.

       “Go ahead,” Haven said. “I'll just have a look around the town while I wait.”

       “Okay, let's go then,” Lucifer said as he looked back at Ace.

       Haven watched the two for a few seconds before turning around and walking off. The two seemed like they were old friends, so Haven didn't see any problem with Lucifer spending a little time with him before they left. Besides, it would give him a chance to relax a little before they resumed their travels.

       After walking the street for a few minutes, the brown-haired youth came to a small church. Figuring it wouldn't hurt to stop and pray, he went inside. Haven stayed there for about ten minutes before resuming his walk around the streets, which had gradually gotten emptier as the sun got closer to disappearing beneath the western horizon.

       It wasn't too much longer until Haven spotted Lucifer and Ace a ways ahead of him. They turned left into an alley and, becoming a little curious, Haven sped up his pace a little until he reached the alley. He peeked around the corner to see the two walking towards a door in the back. Lucifer's arm was wrapped around the shorter man's shoulders and both of them were laughing about something one of them said. When they reached the door, they went inside.

       Haven stood where he was, thinking a little. The first thing that popped into his mind was the two old friends getting into bed and carrying on to nightly activities. It was a sin for a man to lie with another man in Haven's religion, but that fact didn't even come to the youth's mind right away. Instead he was starting to wish—no, wait, he mustn't think those things. Haven shook his head to clear his mind of such ideas. He wasn't going to commit a sin as long as he could help it. Trying to just let go of the thought of what the two were possibly doing, the brown-haired boy continued to wander the town.

 

       “Just a little more,” Lucifer said. “Yeah, that's it.”

       “You like it, don't you?” asked Ace.

       “Yeah,” Lucifer replied as he took a sip of the wine Ace had poured into his mug. The other pub members chattered amongst themselves as they drank their beverages. Ace and Lucifer sat at the back of the room. Lucifer was beginning to sway a bit from his alcohol consumption and Ace sat perfectly fine.

       “You know, you haven't drank a lot of yours yet,” Lucifer said as he motioned towards the three-fourths full mug that was sitting on the table in front of Ace. “You haven't even finished an entire mug yet.”

       “I'm not much of a drinker.”

       “Give it here and I'll drink it then.”

       Ace slid the mug over to Lucifer, who downed it in one gulp.

       “So how has everything been going since you left all of us in the jail?” asked Ace, a tiny hint of anger in his voice.

       Lucifer told him everything that he told Haven the previous night, but left out everything before he left the town since Ace already knew everything from back then. Every now and then though, Lucifer would pause to take a large gulp or two of the wine, which continued to be poured into his mug whenever it got empty.

       “And you said something about being alone a lot before, right?” asked Ace when Lucifer finally finished.

       “Yeah, and I really hated it too,” replied Lucifer. “It's sometimes almost a fear too.”

       “Hm, I see,” said Ace, trying to prevent a smirk from surfacing. “Well, it's getting late. I should be going now.” Ace stood up from the wooden table before quickly beginning to make his way out.

       “Hey, wait for me!” Lucifer called towards him as he stood up too. He then looked back at the wine bottle, which still had some left in it. Not wanting to waste, Lucifer grabbed it before trying to hurry after Ace, stumbling every so often and bumping into people, who cussed at him until he exited the door and went into the alley. By the time he reached the street, Ace was nowhere to be found. Lucifer gave a small shrug before drinking the wine. When the bottle was finally empty, he tossed it to the side, letting it shatter as it crashed into the wall, before walking down the empty street.

       Haven turned the corner and onto the street Lucifer was on. He saw Lucifer walking towards him, falling to the side every now and then before he regained his balance and started to fall to the other side. Haven sighed before rushing over to try to help steady the spiky-haired man. He stumbled a little under the older male's weight for a little bit before Lucifer leaned too far towards Haven, causing both of them to stumble until they ran into a wall. Haven's back was pressed up against it as Lucifer was pressed up against him.

       “Oh, you want to do it now huh?” Lucifer said with a small smirk before beginning to tip backwards a little.

       “You b*****d, you just had to get drunk, didn't you?” Haven muttered before trying to keep Lucifer from falling onto his butt. “Come on, let's get out of here.”

       The two slowly made their way down out of the town. Haven struggled to keep the taller male from tipping every which way. Luckily, there was a grove of trees not too far away from the town. Thinking that it would be too difficult to try to keep walking when Lucifer was in this kind of a condition, they started making their way over towards it so they would have at least some kind of concealment for the night.

       “You know, you're kinda cute,” Lucifer said to Haven when they were about halfway to the grove.

       Haven blushed a little from what Lucifer said before trying to remind himself that Lucifer was drunk. He probably didn't even mean what he said, so there was really no need to even bother getting worked up over it. When they finally reached the grove, Haven let go of Lucifer, letting him fall to the ground. The spiky-haired man didn't bother making any effort to get up, but instead just laid down. Haven said he was going to a nearby stream and would be back shortly before walking over towards it.

       When he reached the stream, Haven knelt down at the edge of it before taking a drink. As he did so, his mind replayed what Lucifer said to him not too long ago. Haven stopped a little and stared down at the water as he thought about it before shaking his head, trying to let go of all thoughts on the matter. He drank a bit more of the water before heading to the grove. The brown-haired boy didn't stay up too much longer until he went to sleep.

       Haven didn't wake up until about midmorning the following day. As soon as he sat up, he quickly plugged his nose upon getting a whiff of the scent of vomit. He looked over a little ways from where he was to see a pile of it. The brown-haired boy sighed at Lucifer's foolishness for drinking so much to begin with before looking to see Lucifer getting up from the edge of the stream.

       When the spiky-haired man returned to the tree grove, the two didn't stay much longer before resuming their travels. Instead of walking south though, they began to make their way southeast. According to Lucifer, it wouldn't be too much longer until they would reach a port, so they figured they would just make their way in that direction to make the distance shorter.

       During their entire walk for the day, Haven kept thinking about everything that happened last night. He tried to forget about them whenever they crept into his mind, but they continued to sneak back in every once in a while. Every now and then Lucifer would notice that Haven was beginning to get frustrated from what he was thinking about, but when Lucifer asked if something was wrong, Haven would just tell him that there wasn't.

       By the time night fell over the lands, the two were in a forest. Not wanting to continue anymore, the two decided to set up camp for the night. When the fire was made and they ate a small supper consisting of blueberries they found growing on a bush nearby, they sat around. Haven continued to think about last night, mainly about when he saw Ace and Lucifer walking into a place in the back of an alley. Figuring that he should probably ask just to ease his mind so he could maybe stop thinking about such ridiculous things, he sighed before looking over towards Lucifer.

       “So who was that Ace person anyway?” asked Haven, figuring he would start the conversation off this way so he could ask what he really wanted to know more casually without making it seem suspicious.

       “He was a friend of me and Marcus when we were little,” replied Lucifer.

       “Oh. Did you two have fun last night?”

       “Yeah. We got to do a lot of catchin' up.”

       There was a couple seconds of silence.

       “I saw you two walking into a place in the back of an alley,” began Haven. “What were you two doing in there?”

       “Oh, we were just havin' a drink. It was a pub for criminals, so they had to put it somewhere where it can't be seen so easily. Wait, I didn't do anything wrong for goin' in there, did I?”

       “No, I guess not.”

       “Why did you want to know anyway?”

       “N-no reason,” Haven said as he looked towards the side a little.

       Lucifer smirked as he scooted over towards Haven. “You weren't jealous, were you?” He threw an arm around Haven's shoulders before resting his chin on one of them.

       “N-no, of course not!” Haven pulled away from the muscular man.

       The older male chuckled a little. “Alright, whatever you say.”

       Haven felt a little more relieved after hearing Lucifer's answer, making up the excuse that it only made him feel better because he knew that Lucifer didn't commit another sin. Exhaustion beginning to overcome him, Haven went to sleep to let Lucifer keep watch for the first half of the night.

Author's Note

I couldn't really think of a good title for this chapter.

Reviews

[Eidolon Michael]

I really liked this chapter. It was pretty uneventful but I do like how you incorporated the whole religion thing into it. It added a little bit more life and info to the story. I'm really wondering about what you're leading up to. I can't help but think that you had a reason for having Lucifer mention that a god/goddess doesn't really need gifts at the beginning of every month. It makes me wonder if there's a conspiracy in the making lol but anyway, I'm sorry for the really long review. I liked the dialogue in this chapter and I love how you kinda delved away from constant dialogue between the two characters to an internal conversation inside Haven. It made things really interesting and gives the character more personality ^_^