The Assassin's Crown

Part 7

2022, June 17th

Aerlic had spent hours freshening up, cleaning his office and changing. He felt better, more human than the cell he was trapped in. His boots brushed past withered leaves that had fallen to the ground. He had finally gained the will to leave his house, his heart was heavy but he at last was free.

"Come along now my king." a voice echoed out from the trees and shrub. It pulled Aerlic into a halt, Joe had done it.

"I'm coming , I'm coming! Don't need to rush me!" the vibrate voice of Sireno laughing and fumbling around. It was a sound the older man missed, a sound he soaked up like a sponge.

"I'm glad you feel much better now." the twigs and shrubs cracked under their feet as they approached the fidgeting man, he was at a loss for words. "Your skin looks much more vibrant this afternoon, I'm glad to see you're not hungover." Aerlics heart stopped.

"Hungover?" he couldn't hold it in. He tried.

"Aerlic?" the boy stopped, in front of him was a face he loved, a face he was still desperately in love with. The man before him looked tired, his face was full of life, but his eyes showed pain, so much pain, he could tell he tried to put himself together, but seeing as the older of the two had yet to shave it was half sided.

"Sireno, what does he mean not hungover?" The older of the two forgets all their issues and rushes to his side looking the younger over, just as he had done a thousand times before, and will continue to do till the end time.

"I got ragging drunk." Sireno looks down, knowing how much Aerlic dispises when he drinks stupid.

"Oh thank the lords you're ok, i hope you didn't give joe too much of a hassle." Aerlic cupped his face with a hand while the other held Sireno's hand. "I'm so sorry."

"You tried to kill me." sireno leans into his hand, the age leaving his face for the first time in centuries.

"And I have hated it for every second since." the elder pulls him into a gentle hug. His heart drums rapidly against their chests. It was so simple, and yet the action spoke thousands of words around them.

"I still hate you, but if you prove you were wrong, maybe you'll get me to be yours." Sireno slowly lets go from the hug to adjust himself, that's when Aerlic saw his king in the current light. His hair was its old curly way instead of the forced straight, the grey stripes still turning a white pale, his jeans ripped and aged, while his button up was jagged and halfway unbuttoned. His combat boots looked new and fresh with the laces and steel untouched by earth's cruel vendetta for its things.

"Deal, and thanks to Joe I am able to get you out of that cramped castle." he grabs his other hand, a wide smile taking the normally dull faced assassin. "Ready for a date?"

"As ready as ever missure."