The Forbidden

Chapter 10 - A story's relation

"Hey, I have a joke."

JR was all ears

"What unit do dragons use to measure their weight?"

JR intently looks at Theon, waiting for the answer.

"Scales."

The two laughed, but Ralf finds the joke corny.

"You're quite the kidder." JR complimented, calming down from laughing.

"Heheh."

"..." Ralf stood quiet, feeling left out.
'Really...ugh. I HATE the fact he's talking with a guy I don't trust!' Ralf argued in his mind.

"Hey, your friend over there seems kinda lonely." Theon twitches his head upwards abd raises his brows to point Ralf who was all feeling alone.

"I'm fine!" Ralf said with a loud tone.
Ralf's eyes averted, seems his expression is annoyed.

JR looks back to his cousin, poker faced. His mood was about to change when Theon interrupted his stare,

"So! Areee you two related..?"

JR looks back at him.

"Yes, we are. We're cousins..."

"Oh...? I thought you guys were twins."

Ralf twitched his voice quietly.

"Well, base on apperances, you two look the same. Same faces, height, prolly age...? Also, same hairstyle...ish." Theon looks to JR, then to Ralf, then back to JR before finishing his statement.

JR chuckled quietly, looking away.

Ralf doesn't seem amused, continues to avert eyes when he still can.

~~~

The walk went on. The group didn't know how far they reached, but they made to a point where they was no fog anymore, but rather, it was nighttime. They made it to another forest, which looked similar to the one near JR's area. JR looked confused.

"Night time already? I'm sure when we got to the other side, there was daylight." JR looks puzzled.

"Probably different timelines of some time-warping area." Theon guessed.

Ralf knew the answer too, but he was too late.

"How come you know a lot about these..?" JR asked.

"Uhheh. Well, I uh....did some researchin'." Theon scratches his head.

They walked inside the forest for a few more steps before finding a spot.

"I guess we have to camp here for the night..." JR looks around the area.

"I'll get firewood." Theon then turned to Ralf.

"Uhhh..." he points to him while snapping his finger, "you, boyname....."

Ralf got irritated as he sighed quietly.

"Ralf..." Ralf said in a serious tone.

"Ralph, come with me." Theon lead the way after he took a direction to get some wood. He pronounced his name 'Ralp'...

'Does he not know how to pronounce my name?? You big douche.' Ralf argued again in his mind, following Theon inside the trees.

---

JR opened up two bags, one was Ralf's and the other was his', to set up their sleeping bags. He was also rummaging both bags to find something for Theon, and to his surprise, he found another sleeping bag inside Ralf's bag. JR blinked twice.

"Always comes prepared...heh." JR shrugged it off as he smiled a little and sets it up.

- - - -

Soon, there was fire in the middle of the three sitting beings, staring at it as it cracks and sizzles as the night went by.

"Don't we cook somethin' over a fire?" Theon asks.

JR looks at him with half-lowered eyes, "Um..we don't...really eat."

"Hm? Why not? Aren't you guys human?" Theon asks, looking curious.

JR and Ralf shared stares before looking back to Theon.

"We're just not hungry..." Ralf responded.

"Hm." Theon pondered about it, shrugging as an end result.

The night went on. Moments of silence we're starting to get awkward. Theon hated silent camps, so he's thinking of ways to brighten up the mood.

"I know what'll brighten up the mood....storytelling." Theon smiles,

JR just blinked at that statement, but seems rather fine about it since he too himself hated silent moments and it makes things boring.

"Sure..." he responded.

Ralf groaned quietly, rolling his eyes.

"Alright." Theon faces them,

"Have you heard of 'Forbidden Friendship'?"

JR tries to recall stories he had heard, but haven't heard of Theon's.

"No. Go on."

Theon clears his throat,

"This is the story of two friends, both the same gender."

JR and Ralf thought of some relation, as they were all ears.

"They both decided to go on an adventure, without anything to bring in their journey, no sleeping bags, no food, no necessary things, nothing. All they brought were two swords. Of course, their journey was tough, they climbed on mountains, hiked in woods, walking without taking breaks, even in the nighttime. What kept them moving forward was their friendship. Friendship that brought them together in their journey, friendship that pushed them forward to keep going, friendship that meant love for them."

JR stared intently to Theon, seemed he got interested.

"But, tragedy happened when all off a sudden," Theon paused for a second, "A monster stabbed one of them..with his weapon he had brought. The other suddenly got enraged, which, as an end result, used his sword to fight the monster. The monster easily defeated him however, but that didn't stop him for fighting for his love. In the end, eventually, he defeated the monster after wrecking his insides, slicing off its limbs, and chopped his head off too. After killing it, he muttered to himself,

"No matter how deep your stabs are, none shall destroy our forbidden friendship."

He then took his friend, he was still alive luckily, carrying him back home."

"Let's go back home. I'll take good care of you."

"And that's it. The end."

JR was astonished by the story.

"Wow.."

"Aaaand it's getting late now." Theon looks at the rising full moon.
"Let's go to sleep now, kids."

Pretty soon, the fire was doused and everyone was in their sleeping bags. JR kept thinking about the story earlier, pondering about it before his eyes soon slowly closed and fell asleep.

-Chapter10End-