Knights of Hell

Chapter 15

It was late at night when Mint realised that no matter how much he tossed and turned, sleep would not come for him. He turned to look at his best friend, who was fast asleep holding the bear he had since childhood. He kept it at Azure’s now instead of in his backpack because that is where they spent most of their time. Since the fallout Azure had had with Kai, they hadn’t gone over. Mint didn’t want to admit it, but he was terrified of what the man would say.

He slid out of his bed, deciding it was too much of an effort to change out of his pyjamas. He slid his hoodie on and walked from the bedroom he shared with Church to the lounge room. The knights were still here, much to Church’s appreciation and Azure’s chagrin.

Mint smiled at Cedar, sitting on the armchair, drink in hand, as he flipped through a book he had gone out of his way to buy for Azure, but usually, he was the only one he used it based on flora.

“Where are you going?” Nether asked, scowling as he looked down at him. “Look at the time, don’t you have class tomorrow? Go back to sleep.”

“It’s the weekend,” Mint deadpanned.

Nether scowled, though he looked behind Mint, seeing if anyone else was coming, and when he realised Church wasn’t, his scowl depended. “It’s still dark out. Do you know what lurks in the night?”

“You?”

“You think you’re so funny.”

Yua stood up, and Mint looked at him with a frown. The man went to the main door and slipped his shoes on. Ah, he guessed that meant he was coming with him.

“Stay safe, kiddo,” Azure said, looking up from the computer screen and staring at him. He quietly looked over at Yua, his eyes frowning, but decided not to say anything. Instead, he returned to working on whatever he had done since he got home. “Don’t be out too late.”

“Will do,” Mint responded.

Two left the apartment, the door closing with a loud thud behind them. Mint walked through the hallway to the elevator, pondering what to say to the man. Since the events in the kitchen yesterday morning, he hadn’t been too sure what to do or how to act. Yua had been keeping his distance, well, that was until now. When the elevator arrived, the doors opening with a ting, a group of humans came out; it was clear they had all been drinking as they stunk of booze and were rather loud, despite it being almost two in the morning. One man knocked his shoulder against Mint’s, leading him to lose his balance a little. He bumped into Yua and apologetically looked up at the man before entering the elevator.

Once the doors closed, Mint sighed a little. On the other hand, Yua finally looked at him and smiled softly. “Hello, Mint,” he rasped, his voice hoarse and a little broken.

“Hi, Yua,” Mint replied, unsure what else to say to the man.

“Why are you not sleeping?”

“I couldn’t. I thought some fresh air would be helpful.”

“I see.”

“How long have you been a knight?” Mint asked, looking up at the man with intrigue. Although Azure had tried his best to keep him and Church away from the rumours, and he may have succeeded, that didn’t stop the rumours that all demons and most humans knew from spreading.

“Almost four hundred years, I think. It has been a while, and time seems to get blurry after a while. Why couldn’t you sleep?”

“I’m not sure, probably Church being a pain in the ass. He kept kicking me,” Mint responded as the doors to the elevator opened. The two stepped out, ignoring the human couple who were a little too handsy with one another as they got into the elevator.

The two stepped outside into the spring air, and though it wasn’t too cold, it was a little chilly, and Mint was glad he had decided to wear his hoodie. The two began their walk down the dark streets. People lurked about, and the bright white lights from the lamps illuminated their path.

“I’ve heard that you’re the oldest out of all the knights, is it true?”

“Yes, that is true. I am the oldest. Why not kick Church out of the bed?”

“He doesn’t like sleeping alone, and it’s just as much his room as it is mine. Why have you been ignoring me since yesterday?”

“I see, perhaps you can come to some sort of agreement? And I have not been ignoring you.”

“Yes you have.”

“I have not.”

“Yes, you have.”

“I thought I weirded you out,” Yua replied. After a moment of hesitance, he sighed, running his hand through his hair. “I was worried.”

“You did not weird me out. I have questions, right, but i’m not weirded out.”

“What questions?”

“Why do you only speak when it’s just you and I. Azure said you took an oath of silence for something, but you’re speaking right now.”

“I did take an oath.”

“Then why break it?”

“I am not breaking it, I have completed it.”

“What was it?”

Yua smiled down at him as he raised an eyebrow. “That is not something for you to know about.”

Mint still had questions, and just as he was about to ask the one thing he had been pondering even longer than why the man was speaking to him, he noticed the group of boys. Mint recognised them, and he prayed that they did not see him, but of course, they did. He tried to redirect Yua away from them so they could make a blatant U-turn and walk the way they came.

“Mint!” one man screamed. He winced as he turned around. He shouldn’t have turned around and continued walking, dragging Yua. But now it was almost two thirty in the morning, and here he was, having to deal with Rami on a Saturday.

Rami and his friends walked over, standing a couple of feet away from the duo, and Rami, with his cigarette in hand, eyed Yua up and down before his eyes landed on Mint with a scowl. “You’re boyfriend?”

“No,” he responded, scowling. “He’s my dad’s friend.”

“You don’t have a father. We all know you’re an orphan.” Mint glared at them. They laughed and snickered at one another, and he wanted to leave. He didn’t want to have to face this ridicule right now. But when he grabbed Yua’s arm to drag the man away, he didn’t budge.

“Aw, are you going to go and cry to your imaginary parents? Where’s the other weirdo?” Rami continued, and Mint wanted to cuss him out, but he wanted to walk away.

But Yua was silent once again and glared at the men. Rami either didn’t care or didn’t notice as he continued. “Did the halfie grow some balls? We all know what you are. We know what you’re going to end up doing eventually, so trying to get an education when you're going to go back to hell or kill someone and end up in jail is pointless.”

Yua, finally having had enough, grabbed Rami by the throat, and Mint let out a noise of bewilderment. Part of him wanted to let Yua go at it, to kill him and for him, to finally be rid of his problems. After all, he had heard many rumours surrounding the silent knight. But the fallout would be too much, and he didn’t want to deal with all that, so he latched onto his arm instead in a panic.

“As much as I have so many questions right now, but you need to let him go. You cannot kill him, Yua. Azure is going to be so pissed off.”

Instead of loosening his grip, he tightened it. “Okay, so not Azure. Feather, then, imagine how pissed off he’s going to be if he has to bail you out of human jail again. He might just leave you in there.”

Yua finally peeled his eyes away from Rami, choking in the air, to stare at Mint, who chuckled nervously. “You need to let him go.”

Yua finally dropped Rami, and the man fell to the ground with a thud. He stood up and glared at Mint before he essentially ran away.

“I think that’s enough walking for us. Let us go home,” Yua said gently, placing his hand on Mint’s back and leading him the way they came. “You need to get some rest. It is getting rather late.”

“Right.”

The two were quiet for a moment before Yua looked down at him. “What do you plan to do?”

“When?”

Yua paused in his tracks. They were about ten minutes away from the apartment, and he had paused under one of the bright white lamps, casting an eerie glow on his pale skin and stained black hands. “When we rebirth? Do you not know of this?” he croaked out.

Mint’s mouth ran dry. “Rebirth? What do you mean rebirth?”

~*~