All My Friends Are Heathens •Gaurance, Zanvis, Vlante•

Heathens (Chapter 9)~Anon

PREVIOUSLY

"Look, you have nobody else except yourself to help you get out of here without having to wash a bunch of dishes. When you get better, I'll pay the bill, you'll go through recovery, and we'll both pretend like we never saw each other. How does that sound?"

Garroth's gears were turning, "Deal." He looked over at Laurance.

"What?" The brunette cocked a brow.

"I said deal." The blonde repeated.

Laurance ginned, then made his way over to Garroth. He put his hand out, the blonde taking it. They shook hands.

"Deal." They said in unison.

****

Laurance waltzed out of the hospital, a grin on his face. Little did Garroth know, this deal had its twists and turns. If anyone knew anything, you didn't make a deal with Laurance Zvhal. You just didn't.

On the other hand, Garroth was feeling great about the deal he'd made with Laurance. He didn't see any harm in it, but that was for him to find out later. For now, Garroth would bask in oblivious bliss about what he thought was to come.

Garroth wasn't in good condition, speaking of which. He was slowly getting better, but the burn marks and the scars on his body remained and wouldn't be going away any time soon. He had mobility in his limbs, but his legs were pretty shaky. Garroth hadn't tried to walk yet, but he sure as hell wanted to. He wanted to be out of that awful, wretched place, but 'you aren't ready!' the doctors would reiterate. Over and over again, he'd be told the same things. Garroth was frankly sick of it.

The blonde hadn't seen his friends in days. Dante and Travis were both busy with their own troubles, and had no time to focus on anyone but themselves. That's what the doctors told them to do; their family told them to do. Seeing as the rest of Garroth's close family was in a murderous gang of stealthy experts, he didn't see much hope for his family reassuring him the same.

Moving onto the other men down the hall, Dante was doing quite well. He'd had an anonymous visitor coming along more often though. Dante had no clue who it was, but enjoyed the male's company. In fact, that anonymous visitor was over now.

"What makes you want to come here?" Dante asked, looking over the best he could.

The fall he took from the building with Garroth and Travis had damaged some of his nerves, and made it hard to move even the slightest.

"Guilt." The person answered, crossing its arms.

"Guilt? Why?" Dante questioned. He wanted answers.

"You don't want to know why. . ."

Dante's body stiffened. Okay. . .

"Who are you?"

"No one of your concern."

This is going peachy, Dante thought. It wasn't going well. There was a tense feel in the air.

"Well," the person got up, "I must be on my way."

"When will you be back?" Dante asked.

"I don't know. . ." The person answered, then left.

Dante let out a quick breath, trying to recuperate after that. Honestly, Dante didn't even know how to react to what had just gone on. It was quite a bit to take in.

****

Gene struggled relentlessly. His main focus was getting out of. . . Wherever he was. The people who usually spectated and watched him were gone, probably filling out their everyday lives. Now that Gene was alone, he could take action to get himself out of the ropes and things that bound him to that awful place.

He threw his head back quickly, trying to get the bandanna off his eyes so he could get a better look on everything. In short, it didn't work. Gene would just have to wait until he could use his hands again to tackle that issue.

Gene pulled his hands closer to the edge of the chair and tried to rub it against the sharp edge of one of the legs. He felt the rope loosening and deteriorating, but it wasn't enough for him to break free. Gene swore he went at it for a solid half hour until he heard the door open. He stopped and pulled his hands away from the edge, trying to look as unsuspicious as possible. All he did was struggle. That wouldn't look to suspicious, right? That's what he normally did.

He sucked in a breath, feeling his nerves rise and cold sweat bead onto his forehead. He was scared as hell, but he'd never admit it.

****

"Do you have ANY idea about what we're going to do? How we're going to replace Laurance?" Vylad asked, pacing around the room they were in.

"No." Zane pursed his lips, "Believe it or not, it'll be hard to replace Laurance. He was skilled, and precise. It'll be hard to find someone fitting his critique."

Vylad nodded, stopping for a moment. He needed to pace himself. His mind was running a million miles a minute, and he needed to slow down.

"Are you sure there's not anyone in this place that could take his place?" Vylad questioned.

"Gene or Zenix would probably be the closest to. But Gene's MIA, and Zenix?" Zane shuddered. He had a grudge against the crimson eyed brunette.

"Wait!" Vylad exclaimed, "Zenix! He's skilled, just like Laurance! We could take him on a mission and see how well he benefits the team. Besides, Laurance did give him his badge."

Zane groaned, "No, Vylad." He whined.

"Yes! I'll go talk to him." Vylad zipped off, leaving his annoyed brother in the dust.

"Zenix!" Vylad proclaimed, seeing the other brunette down the hall, "Wait up!"

Zenix turned his head, meeting eyes with Vylad. He cocked a brow and let the green eyed brunette catch up with him.

"What do you want, Vylad?" Zenix asked, his voice naturally cold.

"I want you to fill in for Laurance! We need a new member, seeing as Laurance dropped off, and he gave you his badge, didn't he? You can just come with us on one mission and we'll see if you're good enough to take his spot."

The mention of Laurance made Zenix gag. Zenix wasn't fond of him. Despite his dislike for Laurance, he sucked in a breath and contemplated his next answer.

"Sure." Zenix answered