Summary : Lovino Vargas is finally old enough to choose what guild he will be in for the rest of his service to the city. When things get bad outside of the city and in other towns and city's, all of the guilds join together to help restore the health and balance in the world. But when a man named Antonio Fernandez Carriedo, the commanders son, from The Elite guild comes and changes Lovino's world, will the two be able to make it through the harsh world full of dangers?

~...~

Warnings : Malexmale love, malexmale relationships, bloodshed, violence, foul language, alcohol mentions, character deaths, magic and potions, magic creatures, human names/humans, human trafficking, made up lands (just so it's more accurate).

Couples : Spamano, FrancexJeanne (I love this couple so much and it's in one of those story's where I can use them), AusHun, hint of GerIta, SuFin, DenNor, others mentioned.

OCs are Isabella and Dimas (appear later in chapters), owned by Lady-Pyrien.

By the way, Lovino is 20 and Antonio is 26, just a heads up!

I've been debating on whether or not to post this first chapter, but I'm going to go ahead and start this story off and see if my followers and readers like this~

Please enjoy the first chapter, and hopefully of many, of The Honest Lie!

The Honest Lie

Chapter One: String of Faith

Rain pounded against the glass frame connected to the stone house and a growl of thunder slowly crept into the vacant streets and city.

"Fratello?"

"Yes, Feli?"

"Are you scared about today?"

Lovino gave a very small smile, "Of course not, Feliciano. Who would be the brave one other than Romulus in this house?" he lied, leaning towards his brother and ruffling his hair.

The small boy grinned and watched him poke and shift at the fire, looking out the window to see lightning off behind the walls around their city.

"Where's Romulus now?" Feliciano asked, "All of that rain seemed have made everyone disappear from the streets." he frowned, turning to Lovino, who scoffed.

"I wouldn't know." Lovino murmured, throwing in another piece of wood. The flames swallowed and devoured it greedily, leaving ashes in its place.

The door suddenly opened and a man stepped in, rain dripping from his clothes and making the puddle from his shoes larger. He pulled down his hood and grinned towards his two grandchildren, opening his arms invitingly.

"Nonno~!" the youngest of the boys quickly stood up from the couch and ran over to the large man, hugging him tightly.

Romulus laughed and wrapped his arms around the boy, "My little Feli~" he cooed, "Nothing happened when I was gone right?" he asked, picking him up and resting him in his arms.

Lovino sneered at them, "You know no one would be dumb enough to try to rob the commander of The War guild's house." he growled, turning back to the fire.

The older man frowned, "That's true.. Also, Lovino, you are ready to go and meet in the headquarters of the guilds to choose." he ruffled Feliciano's hair and smiled.

The second eldest boy nodded and stood up, grabbing his hood from the drawer, he slipped it over his head and pulled the hood up. He chewed his lip and with the bright, encouraging smile from his brother, he quickly set off down the street towards the guild headquarters.

Romulus was the commander of The War guild, one of the powerful ones in the towns around the world. However, the most powerful and trusted ones are in Livienrun, called The Elites. The only way to get in is if your relative was in it, or your results showed it, along with The War guild which was close to impossible.

While the Vargas was very good at using swords in fighting and has trained since he was younger by his grandfather, Lovino didn't want to be in The War guild like his family's history. He wanted to be different. He had helped his grandfather once with killing small animals but he had never really killed a monster before, which was what most of the guilds did in their city.

Finally, Lovino stopped at the gates where two soldiers stood with large swords and torches, the arch blocked the rain from getting the armor and the torch wet.

"Name and business with guild headquarters." the left soldier asked, moving the torch so he could see through the foggy air.

"Lovino Vargas. I'm here to select my guild." he said, trying to get his voice over the downpour.

The right guard nodded, "You're free to go in, but they will be holding a large meeting where guilds all over the world will be coming soon, so don't be too phased by the crowd when you get out." he nodded towards the left guard and they pulled the gates open for him to pass through.

Lovino quickly walked down the flight of stairs to the underground area and was a bit amazed to find an extremely large room. Six pillars were along the sides but other than the chandelier and a few people, the room was empty to be its size and have so little inside it.

The Vargas crossed the area and found where the leader of the headquarters was and pulled the door open, walked in and shut it.

"Ah, Mr. Vargas. I was hoping to see you soon." the leader gave a half-smile and motioned for him to sit.

The Italian pulled the hood off and sat down in front of him.

The man opened one of the drawers in his desk and pulled out a file folder, "So, Mr. Vargas. You're finally old enough to choose your own guild.." he murmured, opened the file and pulled out several papers. "And what guild are you hoping to be in?"

"The War guild.. To carry on my family's guild history." Lovino lied, staring up at the dragon skull above the leader's head. He noticed a few pieces missing and cracked.

The older man suddenly laughed, "I can hear the lying in your voice, boy. But that's not to worry about now." he smiled and took a sheet in his hand. "From my files, you are supposedly very good at sword fighting, but a little weak on fist fighting. You are very good at dodging and blocking with a shield, but past opponents say you often stagger after." he said, looking down the page of things he was very good at in combat and their follow ups.

Lovino looked away, somewhat embarrassed, "Yes, sir." he mumbled, moving a strand of wet hair away from his face.

"Nothing to be embarrassed about, boy. Rather, you sound like an average class of your guild that we've chosen for you." he smiled, "You've been chosen to be in the guild called The Guardians. You've heard about them, haven't you?"

"Y-Yes sir." the Italian almost gave a smile at his excitement.

The Guardians were another attack group that helped cities and often got rid of unwanted monsters that had found their way into town boundaries or by the towns. They were like The Elites guild, less powerful but just as helpful.

The leader put the files away and pulled out a pile of clothes, then handed them to Lovino. "Change into these in the bathroom, bring me your old clothes and I'll have them sent back to your home. We have a big world guild meeting soon so you will stay and take part of it with your guild as one. But after you change, I will give you equipment to get you started. "

Lovino nodded and took the clothes, "T-Thank you, sir." he said, then quickly went off the bathroom to change into the deck of clothes.

The shirt was a normal tan, elbow length shirt with simple pants that went into the high brown boots, which he learned that the boots were so high because they often did their jobs in the rain and during muddy weather. He also had a leather belt with pouches and a baldric, along with a few other slots to hold daggers or other weapons on the belt and leather gloves.

The member quickly stacked his clothes and went back to the room and handed them to the leader, who lead him to the weaponry room.

The advanced man handed him a shining iron shield that was shaped like the head of a dragon with its head down, along with a long sword that looked as if it had flames sprouting from the handle and up an inch of the blade.

"Sir, are you sure I should be having these? I didn't see The Guardian guild members holding these kind of weapons.." the boy said quietly, slipping the sword into its sheath when he got a nod.

"Your father.. Was like a brother to me when we were younger. When he died from that dragon attack, it was as mournful as if having a sibling die." he sighed and handed him more items, "I want you to have a better chance at your guild. These are very high leveled blacksmith weapons and shields made from the dragons bones and the finest stone, just like your father requested you to have when you joined a guild."

Lovino gave a silent nod, quickly slipping on the shining all the shining armor. Now, his other clothes were almost hidden by shining metal, from his head to shoulders, to his chest, forearms, legs. He frowned and pulled off the helmet, hooking it on the belt, along with his shield. The helmet had short, but sharp spikes in several layers over the top to form an illusion of scales and made sharp endings along his jaw line.

"Alright, you should be set.. I'll set you up for a trip to the potions shop to pick up some healing potions and various others. But, now let's get to the world meeting, they'll be expecting me soon, so you'll have time to get to know your guild members." he said, "It's in the main hall, the room where the stairs lead from the front gates." he smiled, opened the door, and walked out.

The sound of talking filled Lovino's ears as he stepped out of the room and into the hallways, he followed the leader until they came to the main hall, where many people were scattered and talking.

Suddenly a body bumped into his side, causing him to turn and see a girl with blonde hair that went to her jaw and had a green headband that kept hair from falling into her face. She had on copper armor and helmet that was strapped to her side and by the size of the two sheaths on her belt, she used small swords.

"I'm sorry! I wasn't looking where I was going.. Oh, are you new? I've never seen your face around here." she asked, smiling.

"I just joined my guild today." the Italian replied, looking around room.

The blonde nodded, "I see. I'm Femke! What's your name?" she chirped, holding out her gloved hand with a big smile.

Lovino slipped his hand into her smaller one, "Lovino." he gave a small smile.

"What an odd name~" Femke grabbed a drink off of the waitress' platter who was passing by, "So, you're in The Guardians guild?" she asked, sipping the dark wine.

The member raised a brow, "I am. How did you recognize it?" he chuckled a bit and pointed to the corner of her lips, where it had stained the spot, which she rubbed and smiled sheepishly.

"It's on your armor~" Femke pointed towards the seal that was embedded into the shoulder armor, stilling rubbing the spot on her lips.

Lovino looked at his shoulder and found the seal of two swords crossing and a bird behind it. He hummed, and looked at her shoulder, finding it had the same symbol. That's probably why she was introducing herself, if it had been another guild, they may have not been friendly.

"Femke!" a girl's voice cut through their silence and a girl with long, wavy brown hair ran over to them, a goblet of wine in her hand. She didn't have any armor on put a chest plate and gloves, but she had the string of the bow against the plate and arrows were slung on her back.

Both of the two turned towards her, but the blonde just grinned and gave an apologetic smile.

"Where were you? Me and the others were starting to wonder what happened to you." the woman smiled, took a deep breath, then turned to Lovino. "Who's this?"

"Lovino." he said, looking at the woman who circled him for a moment before grinning.

"A new member, huh? Pretty high ranked to be a new one." she said and smiled, "I'm Elizaveta, archer of The Guardians."

Elizaveta coaxed the Italian boy to come sit with the table of their guild and get along with everyone, which seemed to work out because he was chatting and having fun with the people beside him.

Lovino turned to the two girls, "Who the hell are waiting for?" he asked, looking around at the other tables, who seemed to be getting impatient for the last guild.

"The Elites often take a while to get here.. Not only because Livienrun is one of the farthest cities, but they have naga's around their city boundaries so it probably slowed them up even more." Femke said, taking a draw of her wine before nibbling on some bread while Elizaveta got a cup of wine from the waitress.

Suddenly the sound of heavy armor and weapons being sheathed quieted the room and they all stared at the gateway, where shadows were starting to show themselves in the light of the chandelier.

An older man with short brown hair stepped in first and was putting away his sword and helmet, which was recognized as the commander. The next people to come down was a trio, which two of them were talking a bit loudly.

One of them caught Lovino's attention, who was just giving a sly smile and putting away his large battle-axe. He had tanned skin and short, brown hair that was messy and curled up in certain places, and emerald green eyes that scanned the room. Until they happened to lay on hazel and green eyes.

The Italian felt his cheeks heat up and he looked to the side, breaking the gaze and quickly taking a drink from his wine, trying to somewhat hide behind Femke and Elizaveta, and his goblet.

"Now that we have all of our guilds, we will begin our meeting on why we have brought you all here." the leader of the headquarters said, silencing the room. "All around the world, towns and cities, even camps are getting destroyed or raided by monsters. As the guilds, we protect the people and around them, but many guild commanders have complained that the monsters are too advanced, and are killing many of their members."

The large gathering remained quiet other than a few whispers.

"Today, we will assign a group of two guilds that will go and kill the monster assigned to them. Remember, these are desperate times now and we cannot afford a failure." he pulled out a scroll and opened it.

"The Magic guild and The Defender guild will kill the Snow Troll, which means you will travel to Whitevale and go south to the ice and snow area. Watch for wolves, bandits and saber-tooth cats."

"The Divine guild and The Guard guild will kill the Forest Troll, which means you will travel to Moslow and go to the east where the forest starts. Watch for wolves, bandits and bears."

"The Warriors guild and The Blades guild will kill the Hydra, which means you will travel to Neviele and go to the west and start where the swamp is. Watch for wild creatures and creatures in the water."

"The Desire guild and The Crossfire guild will go into the Vampires chamber, which means you will travel to Oakston at night and go to the north, there you will find the gates. Keep a keen eye open."

Lovino tuned out the rest of the guilds and sipped his wine, feeling his eyes peek over at The Elites guild table which was a table down from The Guardians guild. They were whispering and he heard a sort of argument starting, but he saw the emerald eyed man from earlier shoot a look at them and they quieted quickly.

"The Guardians guild and The Elites guild will go kill the Griffon, which means you will travel to Rayington and go to the south, where you will find a rocky landscape. Be careful for wolves, bandits and not slipping from rocks." he finished and rolled the scroll back up, "Remember guilds, I'm counting on all of you, and so is the towns. You will have today and tomorrow morning to figure out how you will travel to your town and get supplies. There are enough rooms for your team to fit in, so get to your room to talk. Good luck everyone."

Lovino quickly stood up and rushed to catch the leader, finally catching him before he entered the hallways. He looked up at the taller man, "Sir, I can't fight a griffon.. I-I just joined today, shouldn't I be not experienced enough?" he asked, making a gesture with his hand towards his sword.

The man just laughed and smiled, "I'm sure I chose you correctly to fight this monster with your guild, Vargas. You are one of the best sword fighters in this town, are you not?" he said, watching as the guilds began gathering their groups.

"B-But sir, this isn't a person I'm fighting. This- This is a griffon, a creature I've never seen and never experienced its strength!" he protested, pointing to himself and a sudden feeling of horror filled him. Seeing himself being killed by the beast and the guild bringing his body back to his little brother and grandfather almost made him sick.

The leader stayed silent for a moment, "That's true, but even if you didn't know how to fight extremely good like you do, we wouldn't have time. That town needs you to help them or many innocent lives will be killed in days, even hours.. Just think about what you do before you attack and you'll be fine. Just follow the voice in your head, this monster is not as hard as you think. Now, get to your group, they went into the last room." he smiled and went into his office, leaving Lovino in the hallway for a moment until he began walking to the room, thinking about what he had said.

Quietly, Lovino opened the door and the room turned to him, eyes traveling up and down. Some of them even scoffed, but were quieted by an emerald glare.

"Lovino! Where were you?"

Suddenly, he was practically tackled by a body as they held him tightly. He noticed blonde hair and groaned at her tight grip, "I was talking to the headmaster. Femke, breathing is really important if you didn't know." he said, finally taking a deep breath when she let go with an apologetic smile.

"Sorry! Elizaveta and I were getting pretty worried that one of the members of The Crossfire decided to pick another fight.. They tend to get too cocky." she said with a smile, pulling him over to where the brown-haired woman was sitting on a bed and putting her weapons and armor in a chest. The three of them talked for couple minutes before The Elites guild called The Guardians guild over and set out a city map.

The emerald eyed man from before pointed to Marthel, the city they were in now. "Since we are pretty far away from Rayington, I would suggest it would take three days to get there, not including how long it would take to find the griffon and over the mountains. Gilbert and Francis have been down the path and said they are a lot of wolves and wild animals wandering around there, so that's something to watch out for while were in the rocky landscape."

The man grabbed the piece of charcoal beside the map and circled the large area beside Rayington that had a texture of mountains. "We'll cross below the mountain ledge, after the river will lead to a waterfall that will mean we will be close to a cave to stay and rest in. The commander's all went down to the research room to get papers of our monster and maps along the way."

"Wait, below the mountain is the most dangerous way to travel by the rocky landscape. It has many other monsters that I'm pretty sure none of us want to fight right before a griffon. The best, and safest way to travel on top of the mountain, then there should be a sort of step of rocks that will lead down to the waterfall without having any other monsters chasing us." Lovino said, pointing towards the area he had circled.

Francis raised a brow but nodded, "He's right, Antonio. Town's folks have said they have gotten attacked if they wander too far into the forest by the waterfall by bandits or bears." he turned to Gilbert who shrugged.

Lovino and Antonio seemed to challenge each other in their stare before Antonio leaned forward, resting his arms on the map and moving so he was a few inches away from the boy across the table.

Antonio gave a crooked smile, "Hm.. I like you, very observant and seem to know what you're talking about.. Such a shame your in The Guardians guild now. I'm Antonio Fernandez Carriedo, the commanders son." he winked, "What's your name?" he gave a confused blink and pulled back when the boy swatted at him and looked back at the map, seeming to ignore him.

The two guilds finally finished planning their travel trail and were getting ready to go to bed so they could get up early the next day to fetch all the things they needed.

Lovino sighed and finished putting all his armor and weapons inside the chest at the end of his bed. Femke and him were sharing the bunk beds while Elizaveta and Roderich, who was an archer also, shared one. He closed the chest quietly before turning around and practically running into a tall man and looked up at him with confusion.

"In a rush to get to bed, are you? Why are you up this late?" Antonio whispered and crossed his arms, glancing around the quiet room that was filled with the even breaths of sleeping bodies.

The Italian rolled his eyes, "I was just thinking of what I have to get tomorrow.. I need to get up early." he muttered quietly and bent down to lock the chest.

Antonio raised a brow, "You don't really need to lock it, no one here will take your things." he watched as he sat on the bed and fixed it up.

"Well I don't exactly trust this whole thing yet." Lovino said quietly, looking up to glare over at the man.

The taller of the two seemed to snort and shrug, turning to go over to where Gilbert and him were sharing a bunk, muttering a few things that went incoherent by the Italian. He blew out the lantern, but allowed a few candles to stay alight.

"Hey, asshole." he turned around and raised a brow. "It's Lovino."

Antonio gave him a crooked grin through the shadows.

I've had this idea for a while so I'm just going to kinda creep this little story in and see if I'll continue it.

aaa I'm sorry about Antonio smiling crookedly a lot, but I just see a lot of pictures with his smile crooked or grin crooked and I think those kind of smiles are pretty cute~

Until next chapter!