Ashly and Lucas are traveling once more, it's been a few days since they left. Ashly and Lucas have been mostly silent throughout their journey. So far they are refusing to speak about what just happened.
They agreed to never speak about what just happened, not even one bit. They continue to travel, and the silence is uncomfortable, it's more so when they are on the same horse. Ashly is trying her best to not hold onto Lucas, and Lucas is feeling embarrassed as well.
The thing is that they both know this can't keep on happening. They both want to forget about it, but they know they have to remember. They have to remember as it showed their ignorance, and how it's bad for both sides.
The one clear thing to Ashly during this silent journey was Lucas. He is acting a bit different and of course he would have, he did give her a speech. He changed, and he did for the better or so he claims he had.
Ashly does want to speak with Lucas but how? She doesn't know a way to start a conversation or anything like that. Right then, Lucas turns his head, and he is staring at Ashly. Ashly makes an expression that he could only describe as sad.
Lucas closes his eyes for a bit. "Ashly I know you want to speak to me, specifically about my feelings." He says and her eyes spark a bit. "Im a bit glad that you're worried as it makes me feel better. You're trying to comfort me even if you don't know how to, it's the little things that count." Lucas says and he begins to smile a bit.
Ashly takes a deep breath. "I'm sorry for causing you trouble, I do want to repay you back." Ashly says but she knows she can't do it now, she can't possible repay him. She knows that it's impossible as she has done so much wrong, and she is also not too smart. "Lucas I need your patience, and I will truly show you how sorry I am. I just need you to believe in me just this once Lucas."
Lucas is now smiling more, "Well in that case I'll wait for you Ashly, I do believe in you. I'll wait as long as you need as I want you to be my first friend. There is no one else who I can think of at the moment." Lucas says as he blushes slightly, he does want her to be his friend as then Ashly will have someone that she can worry about.
Ashly then sighs as she is glad he is still the same person. She is actually going to try this time, she won't lie or use him.
"Ashly if I'm being honest with you, I don't know where to go from here on out. My parents are out there, and for what I know, they could of ran somewhere and stay hidden." Lucas then rubs his eyes. "If we return to Iriage you will be hunted down, and this would of all felt like a waste of time. We would of wandered around, and accomplished nothing as a result."
"Lucas if you say it that way, we can't return back to Iriage. Not since you went through everything, you can't quit now." Ashly says and Lucas nods, he seems to agree with her, but how could she know. She can't read his mind, and he might be lying to her to seem less sad.
The sky is covered in dark clouds, and it seems like it's going to rain soon. Ashly is about to ask Lucas about it, but then it began raining. Ashly and Lucas have nothing that can really protect them against the rain other than their coats which would end up soaked.
"We are going to get wet soon, and our stuff are going to get ruined, what do we do?" Ashly asks Lucas as she swears a bit, it seems she herself hadn't seen rain in a while. Why would she, where she is from it rarely rains at all.
"Ashly calm down a bit, it's alright as our bags won't get wet like you think." Lucas says and Ashly begins to calm down slowly, she looks at their bags which to her seems wet.
After a few minutes they are both drenched, it seems that the rain won't stop. This is weird to Ashly as she heard people get sick from this, and she herself hates getting sick. Ashly moves her hair from her face as it began to stick to her forehead, it's weird.
Lucas glances a bit back. "Don't worry Ashly, I think that after a few days of traveling. We are near a town or I think we are…It's been a while since I last checked my newly bought map." Lucas says and Ashly stares into his back. "I think we are just wandering aimlessly at this point." He says as he turns to give her a shy smile.
Ashly instantly begins to think about hitting Lucas in the back of his head. She stops herself. "You're and idiot, but it's understandable." Ashly says instead, why did she want to hit him? That's awful and that would ruin her chances.
Lucas who had his eyes closed opens them, and looks back at Ashly. "I thought you were going to hit me, but I'm glad you didn't." Lucas says, but due to the rain Ashly doesn't know if he looks a bit nervous or not.
They continue to travel for a while, and the rain is limiting their vision. It's not too dark, but they can't make out anything from over 100 feet ahead of them. Lucas squints his eyes, and he spots someone. "I see someone Lucas." Ahsly says as Lucas turns, and she isn't squinting, she has sharp eyes Lucas thinks to himself.
Ashly thinks nothing about this person in the horse as they might be going to Ethneal. It's the only place that is behind them anyways or she thinks.
They ignore him and as they are about to pass by. "Why are you two not prepared for the rain? It's weird." The man says, and Lucas looks at him more closely. He is a blond haired man who is wearing a poncho, he doesn't look wet compared to them.
"Oh yeah…Well we were distracted alright, we saw the newspapers and you know." Lucas says quickly, he feels very embarrassed now. He turns to look at Ashly who seems like she isn't thinking at all nor does he believe she is here at the moment.
"Oh yeah that's understandable, I too was surprised." The man says as he smiled at them, Lucas gave him a smile back.
"Oh right if it isn't rude, may I ask for your name sir? It seems like we are going to have a small talk, and I'd prefer to know your name." Lucas asked.
"Well my name…Don't laugh at all but my name is Zoryem." He says and surprisingly Lucas doesn't reach at all "I'm sorry sir, but I don't like the way you're taking care of your woman, it's disappointing." He says as he looks at Ashly.
Before Lucas could say anything Ashly shot back quickly. "We aren't dating if you're asking, this man is my acquaintance." Ashly said as she holds her head a bit.
"Yeah my name is Lucas, and her name is Ashly, we are currently wondering around trying to clear our minds." Lucas says as Zoryem notices he isn't disturbed by the woman's rejection.
"Oh well it's my apologies, and wow I heard about you Lucas. I'm just glad a man like you is speaking with me now, it's like a dream come true." Zoryem says as he then looks at both of them at once. "You know, you two would make a cute couple. It's a shame you two aren't dating as I believe you two could have a future."
"Yeah no that is not happening anytime soon, I don't really care about that stuff. I don't think I'll ever get with someone as it's not important to me." Ashly says.
Zoryem looks at her with a more serious expression. "Hey lady, a woman should always speak softly. You shouldn't speak that harshly, you should act more proper." He said immediately.
Lucas notices how they are staring at each other now, and it's building tension. "Now calm down you two, it's raining, and I don't want any trouble." Lucas says as he gets in between them.
Ashly begins to think about his name, she believes she hard of it before. Wait! No she is probably just imagining things, Ashly shakes her head. "Just…forget about it." Ashly says in a lower tone.
Zoryem smiles as he thinks Ashly has given up. "I'm glad that we are on the same page right now." He says, "Hey, why don't you two come with me."
"What why? Aren't we going in opposite directions?" Lucas is a bit cautious as it doesn't make sense to him.
"Wow you're a smart man, glad that you got suspicious of me a stranger. I'm only asking as it seems you two don't have any better options. I promise that nothing bad will happen to the two of you." He says as he gives them a thumbs up.
"Well alright then if you insist, just you know that if you try something. I won't hesitate to hurt you or anyone who is around here either." Ashly says .
"I'll forget what you just said alright, follow me, and you can check if I have a weapon on me or not." He said as he began to turn around with his horse.
As they follow Zoryem Ashly leans in and whispers to Lucas. "We need to keep a close eye on him, let's be on high alert around him." Lucas nods agreeing with her, it continues to rain. "Lucas, I'll stay quiet for now as I don't want to stall this anymore."
"May I ask, what were you doing outside before you offered us to follow yo?. I think you would understand why I'm asking this right?" Lucas asked Zoryem.
"Well I was just out for a little trip, I wanted to sleep on the outside for a while. I know it sounds weird, but I don't attack others randomly. I only attack if they attacked first as self defense." Zoryem says.
They take a turn that Lucas is confident isn't in any map, but he says nothing. "This place where I'm taking you two is closer than any town, and I need your full trust of course." Zoryem says and Ashly puts her hand on her gun, she looks around to see if they are getting ambushed soon.
They pass a few more roads, and then they spot a few men standing around the rain. They aren't any horses around, and they are just speaking to each other. This makes Lucas a bit nervous as this looks like a trap to him. "Alright everyone we have visitors, don't try to intimidate them as this man is scary." Zoryem announces.
They all begin to greet them, and Lucas introduces himself and Ashly to them. "We are called Zoryem." They all say, this confused Lucas a lot, and he asked them if this was some kind of joke. They all just tell him that that's their name, and it's not a joke.
Ashly notices as one of them begins to stare at her. "Hey! What's with you eyeing me like that." She says loudly at the tall man.
"Oh I'm sorry I'm not used to new guest around here, I'm not a creep." The tall Zoryem says as he looks down, he knows who she is. She is part of the Iron Deadlock gang, but he won't say anything unless he has to.
Ashly and Lucas get off the horse, and they begin to guide them. They are now in front of a tall, and ruined building that is their home as they say. Lucas leans closer to Ashly. "We can leave now as it's not too late." Which Ashly agrees with him.
Before Lucas could speak more a man approaches him. "I'm glad you killed Robert, that man was a pain in the ass to us. I was planning to go after him for revenge, but you killed him yourself. If we went instead I can guess most of our men would of died." Zoryem says.
Ashly begins to think for a bit, the newspaper did say Robert's name so something is up. Ashly whispers this to Lucas, but the Zoryem who they first meet saw them being uncomfortable.
"We knew him from before which is why we figured out who he was if you're asking. We had history which is why we hate him with our soul. Lucas, you're a hero in our eyes, and we want to thank you. Well to be honest we are normal people as we are a group, we don't rob or usually commit any crime." The Zoryem on the horse said.
"We just follow our leader's rules so we are more like a gang bandits if you think about it. We don't go after civilians nor do we intent to hurt anyone of them." He says.