Across The Border

Chapter 5: deviations

Lloyd's pov:

The next morning came in what felt like a blink of eyes. The sun was already shinning over the forest, which radiated by all the rain of yesterday.

The fire still had a little blaze burning, the human was no where to be seen. Lloyd was sitting on the cave. Contemplating the idea of just walk off and get back to his journey again. Alone.

It would have less distractions and be faster. One problem tho, he didn't know how to get into the castle. He could find his way to the castle, get there, and fight any other guards he may encounter. But if what Jay had said earlier about the security of the castle was true. Then he didn't have a chance to get in.

About half an hour earlier, the blue guy had woken him up to share some food. Then, he said he needed to check on something and walked out of the cave. They had talked about the security system of the place. Pretty much impenetrable. He would need the help.

The only thing that bothered Lloyd was if he should trust the enemy. He didn't know him, what if he was just really leading him into a trap? Just to steal the victory of his companion. But f that was the case, why would he help him? They had both knocked out the guard, and he was the reason why Lloyd was better now without the venom of the blade. Was this all an act to get him to the baron more easily?

Lloyd sighed, giving up the idea. If that was the case, he had his powers to get out. He should focus more on the journey ahead and keeping an eye out.

He searched in his bag for his kunai, it was still intact. A green cloth rounded the handle as the metal shinned with the few light that reached the cave. He quickly started to cut the bandages around his leg, gently taking them off. From outside they seemed fine, as if nothing had happened. But once they were off, Lloyd could see the traces of blood in the part that was on his wound.

He threw them back into the fire that was still blazing. His wound didn't seem as bad now, he had his Oni and dragon side to thank that for. It only looked like a slight cut, not even getting to his flesh. Soon, the only trace of the wound would be the cut on his pant.

"This is taking too much" Lloyd said to himself as took his things and walked off. The sun slightly made him blind once he stepped out of the cave, but soon he was adjusted to the light. Before Lloyd could get on his way, he stumbled with the brown-haired boy again. Seems he was just getting back too.

"Oh, you're up. How's your ...." He trailed off as his eyes glanced at his injury. "Um- did you took them off?"

"Yeah, didn't need them anymore. The wound is already better" Lloyd answered with a bored voice.

The boy didn't say much for a moment, but soon the silence was ended.

"Alright then, I trust you know what you're doing. Anyways, I already have a route to get to the fortress." Jay said as he walked into the cave to put off the fire.

"It's not the usual direct way, it has a little deviation but skips lots of guards. So should be worth it."

"Alright, should we get moving?"

"A morning person I see" Jay says with a forced chuckle as he started to walk into the forest again with Lloyd close behind.

"How long will it take?" Lloyd asked.

Jay frowned, probably calculating how much time that 'deviation' would take. "About a week and a half, I think" He finally said.

So, a week and a half to get to the palace and prove this journey useful.

"So.... You feel, okay?" Jay asked out of the blue.

"yeah" Lloyd answered, not really in the mood to talk.

"No pain or anything?"

"Nothing" he said dryly.

"Got to say that's impressive. Never seen someone heal that fast from a stab."

Lloyd didn't bother to reply. In fact, he just continued walking without minding the boy. He would rather just hear the leaves than talk with the human. They had to keep an eye out just in case.

'But you're in the depth of the forest, what exactly are you thinking will appear?' his mind asked.

'Shut up' Lloyd thought.

'Yeah, 'cause you would rather keep talking to yourself than to other person. Totally okay'

Yeah, better to stop talking to himself. He turned to look back at the blue boy. He seemed to be having an internal conversation with himself too. It didn't matter. He should rather try to focus on their path.

The trees were beautiful, variations of green where all over the leaves, making mesmerizing shadows that descended to the trunk. Seeing them all reminded him of his home. The forest would look just like this on the day before starting to glow at night. Of course, it had it things too. There were plants that were enormous in size, some had flowers that looked like coral reefs. Other looked like miniature trees with flowers hanging like vines.

"Who are you looking for?" a voice asked, interrupting Lloyd's peace.

The hybrid looked back at the curios boy who just kept walking while looking at him. Kinda annoying. But what should he tell him. Obviously not the true of his mission. But there was something on Lloyd's mind that told him he could trust this guy. That was the only reason why he decided to answer.

".... someone from my family" Lloyd answered, quickly going back to look at the road ahead.

"Okay...." the boy trailed off. "Do you have a hobby?"

Lloyd snapped his head back at him. Was he serious?

"What?" the boy asked.

"Are you actually asking that?"

"We have a long road ahead to get to the castle. Might as well chat to kill the time." He said defensively.

Lloyd just rolled his eyes and turned back to the forest. This was not the time to play to make friends. They were heading to the castle to infiltrate it! After that, Lloyd was done. He would find his uncle and tell him what had happened. That's it.

Silence took over the place again. But this time it wasn't as peaceful as before. It was rather uncomfortable. Lloyd glanced back at the boy, he seemed to try to be silent.

Guilt started to build up in him. Perhaps he had been too harsh. He had been told that before. The blue boy had done nothing but help him, and it was true. They had a long journey ahead. A little chat wouldn't hurt.

"Most of my time I spent training, but I used to sneak out to wander through the forest" Lloyd mentioned as he put his black lock back on place. He hadn't shifted onto his human form since he had woken up.

"So you like to take walks. What do you prefer, forest or mountains?" Jay asked.

"Forest, it's more refreshing and I like to climb the trees to get see the forest from the top. It has a majestic view." Lloyd answered. "What about you?"

"Me? Well, most of time I used to just tinker around with anything I could find. I ended up making pretty cool stuff out of old junk. It always proved useful to me since I enjoyed it and when I had a bad day. It would help me forget my problems and calm down."

"Yeah? And what have you made?"

"Nothing big, usually earpieces and headphones. But I think the most remarkable thing was a little device that was retractable."

"So you made that sword of yours?" Lloyd asked, motioning with his head to the handle that hung from the brown-haired boy's belt.

"Nah, some friends who are way better than me made this. I just started with that idea."

They kept talking on about silly things like movies or books. Somehow, his companion managed to explain Lloyd a whole series of comics called 'Fritz Donnegan'. It was like a guilty pleasure Jay had always had. And to Lloyd's surprise, the story was amazing. So the rest of the day they spent retelling the whole saga among other things.