**Important A/N**
Hello everyone, I know this is a little later than expected and I do apologize. As you'll find as you read though it wasn't as easy as i thought to just rewrite the story. I mentioned in an author's note before that my original intention was to leave the first five chapters the same. As I was rewriting this story and editing them though I realized I didn't want to leave them the exact same. While they will lead to the same place, for the most part, as the previous one's did the way these chapters are structured, and the way they introduce characters are different.
I am posting two chapters today, to restart this story. I do have a schedule that I 100%, unless something major life wise comes up, should be able to keep up with. I want to thank everyone for their patience and support with this story and even bigger thanks to Masterliful, who has been helping me flesh out the plot points and characters for this story. She helped me fix sooo many mistakes with this story, both plot hole wise and grammatically.
To those who want to know the update schedule check the bottom A/N at the end of this chapter, and don't forget there's a chapter after this as well.
Ch.1
"The fuck, this piece of shit should've lasted longer than two days," Lovino Vargas muttered as he leaned down and picked up a stone lodged in the ground. He rolled it over in his hands noting the small fractures and cracks in the sides starting to lead up into a carved design. He sighed and dropped it into a pouch before reaching into another pouch and pulling out a new stone and placing it in the old one's spot. It shimmered for a moment before settling back into a dull, gray color.
"Last one at least," Lovino spoke to himself as he stretched his arms up, popping his back in few places. He started walking off directly away from the stone he'd placed. While the stones he'd had to replace broke down sooner, much like the last one he'd come across, than they should have, most were actually still intact. He made a mental note to just place more in that area to keep that part of the barrier from having a weak spot.
The walk back used to be exhausting for him when he first started replacing the barrier stones daily. Now, it was still exhausting, he was just able to walk the barrier faster now that he had been doing it for almost six months. At the end though his feet still hurt enough that he believed they would fall of one day. He was also getting used to the sting of the semi-permanent sunburn on his arms, shoulder, and face. No salve had proved useful in completely preventing the sun damage.
It was sunset by the time Lovino managed to trudge through the break in the trees to see a cabin. It was a small cabin that had a fairly quaint and kind of homey feel to it. Back when it was first built at least. It hadn't been very well maintained, having only patches of new wood and nails in the worst of spots that couldn't be ignored. Despite that the inside was still decent if a bit worn, and the structure as a whole was still sturdy. It had taken a horrifically bad thunderstorm to prove that to Lovino though.
Now the little building made Lovino's entire body relax at the sight of it, knowing that now that it had made it back to the cabin it could rest. As he neared the door to his cabin he saw a large cloth sack was sitting just outside the door. He scooped the bag up without inspecting it before walking into the cabin and carelessly dropping it on the table right beside the door. He promptly walked the small distance from the door to a small cot on the other side of the cabin and collapsed on top. He let every throbbing ache in his muscles, back, and feet have their moment to cry out in relief. He laid there for a few moments, eventually he had to get back up though.
"Uhg, this a bad idea. I really don't want to get back up," he borderline whined. With a sigh though he pushed himself back up into a sitting position. He then began to unlace his boots and take off his thin jacket. After that was done he stood back up and grabbed the bag off the table and sat it on the floor as he sat on the table's sole chair.
Once a month, someone made the trek from the main village out to the sentry's cabin and leaves whatever supplies or food they asked for while picking up a list written out for what would be needed the next month. Vash Zwingli was the man who made the trek out for Lovino, no one else in the village wanted to. In the bag there was usually also some sort of gift from a friend or family. Or even just from a few random villagers as a thanks. Lovino usually didn't get any of that shit though. He knew the only sentry to really get gifts like that was the one before him, his grandfather. However, whether he wanted it or not, he always got at least one gift each and every time from one person.
His younger brother, Feliciano, had sent just a few dozen letters this time that Lovino put on the table to glance over before he went to bed. There was also a gray tin, with a sickeningly sweet smiley face scratched into the top that Lovino sneered at, even as a blush colored his cheeks. Opening the tin he was greeted with the sweet aroma of tomato soup that had Lovino's mouth watering immediately. He decided to send an actual reply to his brother's annoying letters this time, as a thank you. The rest of the bag was nothing but some salted meat and semi-fresh vegetables, there was less than last time. Lovino felt a little annoyed at the obvious passive aggressive message. Part of him said he should complain to Vash about the grocer skimping on what he was supposed to send. Lovino reasoned in the end doing that probably wouldn't change anything. Best to just let it go.
Lovino sighed tiredly. He set the soup canister on his table and the meat in the cabin's ice box tucked away in a corner of the cabin. The pitiful fruits and vegetables left in the bag could be gone through more thoroughly in a little while, for now he decided to set to work making enough replacement barrier stones for tomorrow. Twenty-two stones would need to be replaced tomorrow, but Lovino decided making thirty would be better in case more were in worse shape tomorrow.
He set to work opening a drawer filled with different yet similar stones. They varied in color but retained the same round flat shape. In the drawer was a small engraving knife. He pulled out a handful of stones and the knife and set them on the table as he reached above him to a shelf holding a decent number of books. He pulled out one and opened it to a page marked by a bent corner. On the page was a barrier insignia, detailed but not as much as other more advanced ones in the book.
Lovino wasn't good enough to properly make this simpler barrier insignia, he wasn't going to waste his time fucking up on something out of his league. He didn't start immediately, in the little dying light of the sun coming through his window he found his oil lamp and lit it as well as the small brick fireplace. He poured the canister of tomato soup into his cooking pot to warm up. As it warmed it filled the whole cabin with it's sweet aroma.
After having everything else for his night set up, Lovino went back to his desk and picked up his engraving knife. He set to work, picking up one stone and slowly and carefully scratching the design from the book onto the stone.
Hours passed like that, only being broken up by Lovino pouring a bowl of soup to fill his growling stomach. It was already far into the night when he heard the rumbling. He jumped in surprise as he heard the first cracklings. Lovino looked out his window and saw the outer barrier very slightly shift color in the sky, going from the black night sky to a slightly illuminated deep purple. It was in the same spots he'd found the worst of the broken stones.
Demon's trying to force their way through the barrier was a common occurrence and the sound was no worse than the sound of thunderstorm miles and miles away. Still each light crackling and echoing boom had Lovino tensing by the seconds. He tried to force himself to work on the stones, it never really worked. Soon enough Lovino was letting out a stream of curses as his hands began twitching slightly, ruining an almost finished line of the insignia he was drawing. Lovino quickly dropped the stone and knife in frustration and reached for a dark blue jar on the far corner of his table. He opened it and cussed again at seeing the contents empty. He'd been doing so well on the stones, but he knew that when he had an episode he was doing nothing but wasting his time. The ones already finished would have to do he lamented as he leaned back in his chair looking at the night sky. The best thing could do now would be to head to bed and try and get some sleep.
Or as well as one could with the sound of their enemies coming to kill them.
I've tried many times to make a schedule for updating but this is the first one that I believe will actually work. I will be updating the first and third monday of each month. On months where there is a fifth monday I haven't figured out what I will do yet. When a fifth Monday gets closer I will put an A/N about it in the first chapter of that month to let you all know what I will be doing. That's for later though, for now I hope you enjoyed this chapter and will enjoy the next chapter even more! Thank you for reading. Chapter 3 will be posted on June 20th, look forward to it!
