Unbreakable Promise ch.4

Unbreakable Promise

Chapter Four: The Town Without Joy
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"Alright men, prepare to dock!" Antonio yells, his voice waking Lovino up in the captain's cabin, along with the loud stomps of the men above him on deck. Since the storm Lovino has been feeling weak and useless, a feeling only rubbed in his face by the fact that Antonio pretty much keeps him locked away in his cabin now. It's frustrating and depressing and Lovino can't do anything about it because what use can he really be?
Getting up, Lovino quickly changes before slipping out of the room and poking his head out to see the men working on docking the ship. Ropes being pulled, anchor being readied, it's almost mechanical how the men work until finally they are docked and heading out. For a moment Lovino wonders if he will be kept on the ship, isolated so he cannot win the bet or hurt himself, but thankfully that fear is quickly put to an end when Antonio pops up in front of him.

"Morning little Lovi!" Antonio grins. "Shall we go on land together?" He asks, stretching out his hand. "You can't lose your bet without trying, right?"

Lovino stares at him in disbelief for a moment. "Ah…um….right!" He says, taking Antonio's hand and allowing himself to be escorted onto land. "You're not going to take me around this whole time are you?"

"But of course I am! You can't handle this all yourself, after all you have been locked up in the church for how long?" Antonio asks and Lovino falls silent. "I thought so. Now, since we are on land lets buy you some clothes!"

Lovino looks at him annoyed. "Buy? Don't you mean steal?"

"Never. I have not given you a single thing that was stolen. Rest assured your things were bought legally." Antonio says, surprising Lovino.

"But…that stuff was really expensive…especially those clothes…you mean you used your actual money?"

"Treasures. You can buy a lot of nice things with gold."

A frown settles on Lovino's features. "Why are you so…?" Lovino stops himself and takes a look around the town. There's no one calling to them, no one trying to sell them anything, no one starting up conversation. "I do not like this place…" He mumbles and Antonio nods.

"Mm…it doesn't give off a welcoming feeling, does it?" The Spaniard asks with an amused smile, picking up on something Lovino is obviously missing.

"Everyone seems really mild mannered though, so I'm sure I can win the bet here." Lovino says and Antonio snickers.

"If you truly believe that than I must say the most innocent person here is undoubtedly you."

"Every word out of your mouth never fails to piss me off…."

Antonio pats Lovino on his back. "Lovi, for being raised in a peaceful church you are a pretty moody."

"What is peaceful about running from a pirate since birth?" Lovino grumbles.

"Since birth that might have been the case, but while still in the womb you reached out to me." Antonio says with a peaceful smile on his face. "Had you not the deal would never have been made. To think such an innocent moment in our shared history has caused such bitterness…on your part. You are such a difficult child."

"And you are a spoiled one." Lovino huffs. "A spoiled little brat whose daddy got him a child to play with."

"Do not speak of my father as some push over of a man, Lovino. You are just the whiny little brat who doesn't want to try anything new." The Spaniard says, finding himself increasingly annoyed with Lovino as they walk further into town.

"What am I trying that is new? On the boat you simply lock me away in your room and on land you don't let me go off on my own!"

"Because you would run away! Your loyalty and honor are nonexistent at this point because your cowardly mother never taught it to you! Only to run and hide and whine about things you were taught to hate!" Antonio yells and Lovino goes to punch him.

"Please do not fight in our town's streets!" A small boy with light brown hair says as he runs between them, making Lovino stop. "This town cannot take more fights!"

Antonio and Lovino stop, staring at each other surprised with themselves. "I...I don't know why I said that stuff, I am sorry Lovi."

"Huh…" Lovino looks to the boy between them. "And who are you?"

"I-I'm sorry…my name is Raivis…" The boy stutters, blushing a little. "I'm sorry to interrupt you to…please excuse my rudeness."

"Not at all, it was us who were being rude." Lovino says, smiling at Raivis.

"Ahhh, he even has the false Christian smile down." Antonio mocks, receiving a glare from Lovino.

"It is not false, you jerk."

"Umm…are you two lost? Would you like something to eat?" Raivis offers and Lovino goes to turn him down before a hand clasps over his mouth.

"We are actually famished! How kind of you to notice!" Antonio says and Raivis smiles at him.

"Please come with me, then! There's a nice eatery nearby." The boy leads them to a building that seems vacant from the outside.

"Why are we going with him to eat? This is a waste of time." Lovino whispers and Antonio chuckles under his breath.

"Lovi, I never waste my time." He says before they are brought into the building filled with people.

"Th-this is where everyone was?" Lovino asks in awe and Raivis nods.

"We don't really like new people." The boy explains before smiling at them. "But you two seem kind, so I think they will accept you."

Antonio smiles back, patting him on the head. "That's very kind of you, Raivis." He praises before Raivis runs off to grab them food, leaving them alone to look at all the other people.

"And just what is your plan in doing this?" Lovino asks and Antonio laughs.

"What makes you think I have a plan? I'm merely accepting a young man's hospitality."

"More like flirting with a young man. If I did not know any better I would say you wanted to court him." The Italian mumbles, a hint of jealousy in his voice.

"Ahhh, he is cute, but courting one boy is tiring enough." Antonio teases. "If you must know, this town is infamous for killing travelers. For some unknown reason, townspeople and visitors become overwhelmingly angry and hostile. For visitors it is the fact they are left alone in a foreign town with no local help, allowing frustration to grow and be taken out on the only one with them, but for the townspeople…" A strange smirk comes to Antonio's face, catching Lovino off-guard. "It would be interesting to find that out."

"Huh? You wanted to meet the people…to study them?" Lovino asks confused. "You don't want to steal from them?"

"Why should I?" The Spaniard counters. "When my men are doing that for me."

Lovino twitches a little, looking away annoyed. "Of course they are." He grumbles as he stares at the people in the building. No one is sitting together, everyone is even making it a point not to look at one another. It's silent aside from the sound of silverware and chewing, and despite the indifferent look on everyone's face Lovino feels an overwhelming sense of bitterness. "These people are strange…if only there was a way to make them better."

"Yes, well, that's not my problem." Antonio says simply. "I wanted to see what they were like and possibly find out why, but to take the time and fix it is useless to me."

Lovino stares up at him with a sad look. "Women and children will not even look at one another, Antonio, how can a child grow up happy if his mother will not even look at him?"

Antonio's lips straighten into a thin line as he tries to ignore the boy's sorrowful expression, and voice, and the fact he seems almost personally hurt by this fact. Yes, he's a pirate and pirates do not waste their time fixing other people's problems, only figuring out how it can benefit them. However, since before the kid was born, Lovino has been his weakness and far too quickly for his pride to accept Antonio's resolve shatters under that gaze. "Damnit, fine." He groans. "Just this once. If any other towns we stop in have a problem it is their own job to fix it, understood?"

A small smile, purely for Antonio, comes to Lovino's face. Not cocky, not forced, but actually happy. "We'll see about that." He challenges and Antonio cannot even bring himself to get mad at the kid's cockiness or feel shame in his own doting ways because that single expression is enough to fill the Spaniard with a kind of joy he hasn't felt since Lovino first moved for him in his mother's womb. Something he cannot describe and doesn't want to, because joy is joy and naming things can be troublesome.

"Let's start with informing the others, shall we?" Antonio asks sweetly and Lovino nods. "Great! You get to it! I shall wait here with Raivis and the other townspeople!"

"Oh, oka-wait, what? I refuse to go alone!"

"Hmmm? But wasn't it Lovi who just earlier complained about me sheltering him?" Antonio asks no one in particular before smirking at Lovino. "I believe it was."

"I'm not going out there alone! What if there is some weird murderer out there?" Lovino whines and Antonio laughs a little.

"Lovino, you came with the murderers."
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A/N: I was so sure I wouldn't get this done tonight since I went out to the bar with buddies (which resulted in the recording of me and a friend singing and dancing to Panic! At the Disco...) BUT I DID! HOORAY FOR THINGS GETTING DONE! Also, I just want to point out I did not write this while drunk, they had no strawberry daiquiris so I stayed sober. (It's the only alcohol I can stomach. Everything else is just gross.) So all lameness is 100% sober lameness.