Forbidden love (Anarchy x Lawliet)

Chapter 1- A stranger.

The sun was hotter than normal, being in the sun felt like you were burning alive. It was usually fairly warm during this time of year, but never like this, and never for this long. It hadn't rained for weeks. The soil started to crack and harden, the trees looked lifeless as they swayed in the wind. The once soft green grass was now a pale yellow that cracked and broke with every step. The crops weren't thriving as they used to, the well was drying out and the animals were getting sicker by the day. 

It was hard to tell just how long it had been since the heat wave had started, was it one month? four? no one knew. Being from a small village in the middle of nowhere came with many disadvantages. It wasn't on a map, It was hours away from any other form of civilization and the population was small. Too small, with a total of 20 residents. There used to be more, a lot more, but as time went on people started to leave. Whether it be to the big city to pursue something new, or to just another village further out. The few people who were able to work in the village were now flooded with jobs to do and errands to run, no one had the time to keep track of the days anymore. James was one of those people. 

James lived with his mother, Anna, in a small house on the outskirts of town. His father, Andrew,  used to own a blacksmithing shop when the town had more people. Andrew was a good man, everyone in the village loved him, he was a kind and fair man, a good business owner and a loving husband. At least that's what it looked like from the outside. 

One night when James was returning from his day's work in the fields, he saw his Father in the ally way next to the tavern with a lady, a lady who James didn't know. He didn't want to eavesdrop, but his curiosity got the better of him, so against his better judgement, he hid around the corner and listened. Listened as the woman cried about being with-child, with his Fathers child. He listened as he promised to run away with her and support her and his unborn child. Disgusted, Horrified, Hurt, Betrayed. That's all that James felt. 

He didn't care if they saw him now, he didn't care if they heard him leaving. He left the scene and beelined home, his mother had to know, she deserved to know. The news broke her, he knew it did, the way she screamed and cried proved that. When his father came home later that night with the bouquet of flowers he'd usually bring home for his wife, he was shocked to see the scene in front of him. All of his belongings had been packed away in suitcases and left at the entry way of the house, he knew that they'd found out. He didn't try to make excuses or apologize. He admitted to his indecency and adulatory and had left. That was the last time Anna and James saw him. 

James felt conflicted after that. Was his Father really a good man? if he was lying about being a faithful husband, was he lying about his business to? was he a fraud? were all of the flowers he bought his mother out of guilt? was it always after being with that woman? that stranger? did he even really know his father at all? His head was flooded with these thoughts. 

His mother wasn't faring any better either. With his father being gone the business closed down, neither James nor Anna knew how to run it, not that Anna could, she'd gotten sick not long after Andrew had left. At first it just seemed to be a cold, something that would pass quickly, nothing to worry about. But after three weeks, it seemed apparent that it was more than that. By this time people had started leaving the village. Not many people were left and the village doctor didn't have the resources necessary to conduct any large scale tests and the ones who could were hours away in the city who's prices costed more than the two could ever afford. 

James now felt more determined to help support his mother and earn enough money than ever before. He had to help her, he had to get her to a doctor, he couldn't lose her. So he threw himself into work, it was working for awhile. He'd gained a substantial amount of money since then, not enough to get her into town or to see a doctor, but it was a start. A real good start, and Anna couldn't be prouder. 

But then the weather started to get warmer, the fields started to dry out and food became scarce, the tavern was forced to shut down. The doctor had left the village and it was getting even harder to live. They started to become smaller, skinnier. James was a rather built bloke, having worked on the farms since he was 13, but even he was small for his stature now. His mother looked worse than ever before, she had large bags under her eyes, her hair got duller and her movements got slower. She became lethargic and James knew this was bad, really bad, but he couldn't do anything other than work and try harder, there were no other options. 

On one particularly hot day, James was walking down the side of the main road that led to the village, he was carrying two rather large buckets full of water back home to boil, it may not be food but it's something. He'd found a fresh water stream the previous night while out on a midnight stroll to clear this thoughts. Not many people ever came up that way so he was surprised to hear an engine driving up the road, he turned around to look at it when it drove past, he didn't get to see who drove it but he was surprised that someone even wanted to go down that way since there wasn't anything particularly interesting there. Shrugging it off he got back to what he was doing and continued to walk home.

When he got closer to the village, he started to hear yelling. "Is there an altercation amongst the villagers? that's rare" James thought to himself. When he got closer he then noticed that it wasn't people fighting, instead it was the person who was driving the car from earlier. 

"You idiotic dumb machine! why do you break down so often!? and why when I'm alone!? this is a two person job!" he could hear the man shouting angrily at the vehicle. The stranger was tall but rather slim, not stocky like James was. He had his back to James so he couldn't see much else. He decided it wouldn't hurt him to go and help the man out, it would be rude of him to ignore the man. If he didn't want any help then James would leave and continue heading home. He put his buckets on the side of the road and approached the stranger. "Hey, did you need a hand with anything?"