The Return | Cricky [C]

Chapter XXI: The Wastelands

The town of Etihull was nothing too spectacular. They had an inn that was clean enough, and the others tell me the local pub had wonderful food. I made sure to wait until the moment we left the castle to have a meal. Hopefully, we can complete our tasks and return home in enough time that I don't have to eat on the road. It's such a hassle, having to subdue a victim and find a way to dispose of the body. Ricky's provided me with the luxury of not having to do any of that anymore.

Ryan and I parted ways with Ezra and Vinny at dawn. While Ezra was impatient to return home to Yuu as soon as possible, Vinny was delighted he'd be seeing scantly clad women soon. Apparently, the creatures who live in the untamed lands have a far different culture than the rest of the world, which somehow translates into wearing barely any clothing. Speaking of, I have to say, I'm quite in love with the uniform Ricky gifted me. Ryan seemed happy to have something new. His old uniform was torn up from years of fighting and adventuring.

Whether or not that happiness will translate into pleasantries, we'll see. We reached a point where there wasn't much of a road, and the path that did exist was far too treacherous for us to drive the horses at a fast speed. We were forced to slow down, though I'm sure we'll still reach our destination without having to stop for a night.

"You and I don't get much time alone together." I commented, trying my best to start a conversation.

He glanced me, almost as if he was deciding if he actually wanted to give a shit today. "So, Master got on your case, too?"

How did he- Never mind. Some questions are best left unanswered. "Yeah, but I can't really blame him for wanting us to have a closer relationship. He has to rely on us for quite a lot, and how can he do that if we aren't working well together?"

"I know." He grumbled. Then he left it at that. Great chat, Ry, really. He might be fighting the matter, but I won't. I promised Ricky I'd try to make him my friend, or at least get to a point where he doesn't have his guard up around me.

"Sooo, is there anything you-"

"Look," Ryan sighed, "I know the only reason the Master cares about this is because you two are sleeping together. He never cared whether or not I worked things out with Ezra, or if I ever bothered to give a shit about Yuu."

"But, you still did work things out with Ezra, and you helped out when Yuu was attacked. Obviously, you know you don't need the Master to tell you to do something to do it, and you do care about people. You just don't like me, for some reason. Is it because I'm sleeping with him?" I asked.

"No!" He snapped. Ryan took a deep breath, replying, "No. You just remind me of someone I used to know."

"I won't pry, but if you want to talk about it, I'd be more than happy to listen." I said.

He scoffed, "That's just a really sugarcoated way of saying you want to know. It was someone I met on Earth, when I made it back there. After all I'd seen here, I wasn't scared of the supernatural. To him, meeting a human who wasn't afraid of him was so intriguing, he decided to befriend me instead of killing me. Friends became more than friends fast—Too fast. We crashed and burned pretty badly. I was actually thinking about trying to reach out to him and fix things, then I got sucked back here."

"I'm sorry. I know how it feels to lose someone whose still alive. Sometimes, I think it's worse than losing someone to death, because you know they're still out there in the world and you just can't have them." I responded.

I tried my best to just be kind and sympathetic, but in the back of my mind, I was freaking out. Holy shit, I had no fucking idea he was gay. Now that he said it, yeah, I can see it, but he slipped under my gayday like a ninja. It makes sense. Master would often allow Kuza in my tomb to play around with the girls shackled up there, but never once did Ryan ever come down. I just assumed he wasn't a sexual being.