Chapter 2 : "A Friendship Begins"

18 Years Later, Emily POV

"Lance!" Emily shouted.

Hearing no response, she called again, "Lance!"

Again hearing no response, she prepared to call his name a third time , but was cut short when her daughter Mary came into the room.

"Mom it's ok, let me go and get Lance for you" Mary happily offered.

"Oh thank you sweety, and tell him to stop playing that damn video game, it's almost time for him to go to work." Emily replied, sighing.

Lance POV

Come on, just a few more kills. Lance didn't notice that Mary had come into his room and was standing at his door with her arms crossed. Aaannnddd I won! Lance threw his arms up in the air and gave a victory cry, just now noticing his sister standing his room.

"Oh hey sis, what's up?

"It's almost time for you to go to work dummy, and you're not even showered yet!" Mary replied, giving Lance a disappointed stare.

"Oh shit you're right. Hey bring up my clothes would ya'?" Lance said, escorting his sister out of his room.

"Hey I'm not some maid for you!" Mary shouted, but before she could say anything else she was shoved out of Lance's room and was given a quick kiss on the cheek from him, along with a "Thank you sis."

Lance then closed his door, relieved that he was alone. Taking a glance around his room he sighed at the thought of cleaning it : clothes lying on the floor, dust on the walls, an overflowing trashcan. He shook his head then walked over his bathroom door and entered his private bathroom, shutting the door behind him. Now standing at the sink Lance took off his nightshirt, exposing his bulging muscles. He also looked at how ragged his dark brown hair was and how dark his hazel colored eyes were. Man I'm going to have to get a haircut soon. When he was born both his and his sister's bodies were more developed and it had raised questions within the hospital. His mother had quickly dismissed any claims and said that they were both just healthy newborns. Often he and his sister would ask questions about their father, to which their mother would simply reply that he had gone away and never returned. He then finished stripping and stepped into the shower.

Ten Minutes Later*

Lance walked back into his bedroom, body still damp from his shower, to find a basket of his clothes on his bed, to which he gave a huge smirk. He decided that his outfit for the day would be a black hoodie, dark blue jeans, and sneakers. Once he was dressed, he exited his bedroom to find his mother sitting at the kitchen table, drinking coffee.

"Morning mom."

"Morning honey, are you off to work finally, or must you procrastinate any longer?" Emily replied, smiling.

"Yes I am off to work. I'll see you later ok." Lance said while giving his mother a quick kiss.

"Oh honey one more thing. I'm going to be working later tonight than usual, and your sister has a date with her boyfriend, so you're going to be alone for awhile."

Oh great, she's going on a date with Todd...what a jock. "Ok mom. Love you." Lance replied before exiting the front door.

He had decided that he would walk to work today, not that it was that far to begin with. Lance worked at a major pet store as a loader and unloader of any trucks that came in with deliveries. It wasn't too bad of a job for a recently graduated high school student. It allowed him to have cash in his pocket which right now was all her cared about really. At this point in his life he didn't really know what he wanted to do after having just finished school, and that included college. While he was in school he got good grades, yet he found little motivation to do much. It was only after his mother had instilled in him the importance of doing good in school did he start having more motivation for doing things. His sister Mary on the other hand, was a perfect student, and seemed to only care about school, yet still seeming to have a social life. While all this was going through his mind, Lance didn't notice that he was about to walk right into someone until it was too late.

"Oh, I'm sorry miss, I wasn't paying attention." Lance said right after bumping into the stranger.

"Oh no, that's okay" she said with a chuckle. "Might I ask your name mister…?"

"Cass. Lance Cass." he replied. "I might ask the same of you."

"My name's Georgia, It's nice to meet you Lance. Where are you headed?"

"I was just on my way to work. I work at the pet store a few blocks away from here."

"Oh cool. I was just on my way home from the mall." Georgia replied.

"Well it was nice meeting you, but I really have to get to work so, goodbye."

"Nice to meet you too Lance. Goodbye."

With that they went their separate ways, but little did they know that they would soon meet again.

Georgia POV

Georgia walked down the street towards the nearest coffee shop to meet with her friend Lottie. It was a small shop but the girls met there every week and had done so since they were 15. Georgia stood outside for a few seconds sorting out her hair in the window after bumping into Lance, as that had strewn it across her face. She then walked in to see Lottie sitting in their regular seats in the corner.

"Georgia!" Lottie called before running up to her best friend and hugging her to the point where she almost squeezed all the air out of Georgia's lungs.

"Lottie!" Georgia replied.

The girls then returned to their seats where, much to Georgia's delight, there was a chai tea latte waiting for each of them.

"So how's life?" Georgia asked Lottie, sipping her tea.

"Yeah not bad," Lottie replied.

With that they sat and drank their tea in silence, enjoying the moment and soaking up the atmosphere of the almost bohemian little coffee shop until Lottie exclaimed, "Oh my god! Did you hear what happened with Bernadette?!"

"No?" Georgia enquired.

"Well…" Lottie began.

With that, Georgia knew she was going to be here for a long time listening to the life stories of practically the entirety of their old high school. She didn't mind though, sometimes it was just nice to lose herself in listening to Lottie's crazy gossip. Although, as much as Georgia tried to listen to the amazingly long list of guys that Bernadette had slept with, she couldn't help but let her mind wander back to that guy that she had bumped into. She was intrigued by his mysterious persona and she knew there was something special about him. Lottie continued to talk, however now she had moved on to talking about Molly's army career.

After a good few hours, Georgia finally realised that Lottie had stopped talking and had taken to showing her pictures of what people look like now compared to what they looked like when they were in high school. Georgia sighed and then gave in, giggling with Lottie about high school crushes. After another two teas, Georgia finally decided that she better go home and finish off some paper work. With another extremely tight hug, the girls bid farewell and went their separate ways.

Lance POV

So far Lance's work day had been slow and dull, and consisted mostly of loading and unloading pet food, cages and fish tanks, and other miscellaneous items. When there was no more things to load or unload, the store manager asked him if he would mind covering the cashier's position for the rest of Lance's work day, to which Lance agreed. While working in the cashier's position was more fun than loading and unloading items, it was still dull to him, as there were few customers that day. The funniest thing he had seen since he started work that day was a drunk, half naked man who came into the store, asking if he could buy some dog food. Of course Lance declined his request because of the circumstances at hand, and in turn the man became enraged and made dash for the dog food aisle. In the process however, he somehow managed to run into one of the shelves, causing it to fall over onto him. During all this, Lance had contacted the authorities and soon enough two policemen had shown up, ready to take the man into custody.

Once the man had been taken away, Lance set to pick up the dog food bags that had fallen to the ground from the shelf toppling over. Once he was done, Lance went back to the counter to resume his duties. What he didn't expect to happen, was seeing Georgia burst through the front doors, with a long gash in her left arm. He immediately went to help her, until he noticed two men walking to the entrance of the building, one holding a knife, and the other having a set of metal knuckles on each hand.

"Hey kid, why don't you just back the hell away from our little score here, and let us do our thing. In return, we'll show some gratitude by not robbing this fine establishment here." one of the thugs said.

Uh oh, this can't be good.

Five Minutes Earlier, Georgia POV

Once she was done filling out the necessary paperwork for college, job applications, and other things, Georgia decided she wanted to go for a walk. She left her parent's house and started walking towards the park, intending on going there and just sitting amongst the nature and the like. What she didn't expect however, was two men wearing hoodies approaching her, which could only mean one thing. She quickened her pace, and saw that they too had quickened their pace. Changing her course, Georgia thought she could lose them in the nearest alleyway, but to her misfortune, this action only worsened things for her. When she realized she was cornered, she chose to just give in to the chase and hope these two men weren't going to hurt her.

"Hey darling, wanna have some fun?" one of the men inquired.

"Yea, don't worry, all three of us can have some fun. It'll be alright sweetie." the other man stated.

"Um, no thank you." Georgia replied, darting her eyes between the two men, while also searching for a way out of the alleyway.

"Darling listen" one of the men said, pulling out a long and sharp looking knife, "my friend and I don't like having to ask twice, so would you please accept our offer? I promise we will make it good." he finished with a smirk.

Seeing no other option, Georgia made a run for it, and in response, the man with the knife slashed at her as she ran by, scoring a nasty gash in her left arm. She immediately winced from the pain, but the fear of being used or even killed by the two men was too much to bare, and as such she ran as fast as she could, to the nearest public building she could, which so happened to be the pet store. Hearing the two men shout, she looked behind her as she was running to see both men give chase to her. This compelled her to run even faster, and it eventually led to her bursting through the doors of the pet store to find that it was none other than Lance working at the register.

Lance POV

"Oh shit. Georgia, get behind me, now!" Lance shouted, positioning himself in front of Georgia. "Call the police" he said, handing her his phone, "I'll deal with these two numbnuts."

The two men approached the doors further, now readying their weapons.

"You'll have her over my dead body!" Lance shouted at the two men.

"Ahhh it looks like we have a fighter here." the man with the knuckles said, chuckling.

"It looks like we are going to have to deal with him first" the other man holding the knife said, giving a sigh, "but no matter, we can take his punk ass."

With that the two men charged for the doors, both of them shouting in unison. Lance held his ground, ready and waiting for them to come to him. When they burst through the doors however, a sudden sense occurred to Lance, feeling almost as if his blood boiled and a fire began to rage inside his chest. He didn't have time to think about it though, as the man with the knife was soon upon him, prompting Lance to dodge the man's swing of his blade. Taking the opportunity presented to him, Lance went in for the finishing move, punching the man in his back and sides so hard, he could hear something within the man crack, presumably bones. The man howled in pain and attempted to lash back, but some of his bones did indeed break, causing him to keel over. Lance then brought his foot down on the man's face, hard, knocking him out for the fight. The man with the knuckles was especially enraged at seeing his buddy down so quickly, and so this caused him to make a charge at Lance, which Lance dodged. Seeing that this man was bigger than the previous one, Lance used this to his advantage, and jumped onto the man's back and began landing clean punches to the head and collar bone. While all this was going on, the man managed to reach behind him and grab ahold of Lance and throw him off of his back and onto the ground.

Seeing his only opportunity, Lance used his powerful leg to land a massive kick to the man's groin, causing him to fall over from the pain. With the mysterious rage burning inside Lance, he picked the man up by the neck, and held him in the air. He then looked deep into the man's eyes, seeing that they were filled with fear.

Man POV

He looked deep into the kid's eyes, which seemed to glow a bright and fiery red. This caused him to become even more scared at the sight before him, along with the fact that this kid was holding him up in the air by the neck, with just one hand. Who or what in the hell is this kid? This is unnatural!

Suddenly, a voice boomed inside the man's head, causing him to almost faint out of fear, "YOU WILL LEAVE HER ALONE!"

What the actual fuck! Is this kid able to get inside my head?

Lance POV

Lance had had enough of this man, and decided to headbutt him. After doing so, the man's body went limp, causing him to fall to the ground, unconscious. Lance soon felt the rage within him subside, causing his mind to become calmer. Standing there was Georgia, who had watched the whole fight with a mix of envy and horror. He looked at her, unknowing of what to say, when all of a sudden she rushed at him and gave him a big hug, silently crying while she did so. Never being put into this position before, Lance did the only thing he thought was right, and placed a comforting hand on her back and just hugged her.

They stayed in that position for quite some time, until the police arrived to take away the two thugs, along with an ambulance for Georgia that would take her to the hospital to get stitches. When Lance finally released her, she looked into his eyes, and just stared into them, causing him to do the same with her. He marveled at how beautiful her blue eyes were, as he just kept staring into them. A sudden voice brought them out of their trance like state, and back into reality.

"If you two are done, I suggest we get this show on the road." one of the police officers said.

Georgia then blushed, smiling at Lance, to which he just smiled back. "We should really get that arm looked at." Lance said, escorting her to the back of the ambulance.

"Oh my, such a gentleman!" Georgia playfully gasped, laughing afterwards.

Policeman POV

Just as both of them had gotten into the back of the ambulance, the pet store manager arrived, seemingly out of breath, which was a testament to his apparent weight.

"Sir, I hope you don't mind, but we are going to have to take your employee with us and bring him in for questioning. We also request that you send us the security footage, as a means to clarify what your employee may say." the police officer said calmly.

"Oh sure officer, that'll be no problem at all. It's always a pleasure to help out the law." the manager said with a smile.

"Well alright then. Thank you for your time." the policeman replied.

With that he walked back to his squad car, and headed back to his precinct, where he would await the arrival of one Lance Cass, the star witness in the investigation.

Hospital Room 27, Georgia POV

The doctor had Georgia sit down in the chair so she could be ready for stitches.

"Hun you just wait right here ok? I'll be back with the necessary items." the doctor stated, right before leaving Lance and Georgia alone in the room.

Georgia leaned back in her chair, holding the temporary bandage covering her gash in place. She was thankful that as soon as the ambulance had arrived the paramedics gave her a clean towel to cover her gash with. Lance leaned against the wall, eying her movement.

"You know I'm glad that you're ok. I don't want to imagine what those men would have done to you." Lance started, hoping to begin a conversation.

"Yeah I don't want to either. In fact" Georgia said, getting up, "I don't believe I have thanked you Lance."

She began walking over to him, to which he stopped leaning against the wall and was now standing up straight. Lance raised his eyebrows at her, curious as to what she planned to do.

"Oh don't be silly Lance, you big goof. I'm just coming to you to say thank you." Georgia said, laughing.

"Oh, hehe" Lance replied, rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment, "you are very welcome Georgia."

Suddenly an officer walked into the room, instantly giving off a serious vibe to the two friends.

"Mr. Cass, is it?" the officer started, to which Lance nodded his head, "I would ask of you to please come with me down to the station, so we can ask you some questions about the incident. Will that be a problem?"

"Oh no sir, I would be glad to come down." Lance replied, suddenly remembering to do something before he left.

He walked over to Georgia and gave her his number, in case she needed to call him ever. With that the two men left Georgia all alone in her hospital room.

Mary POV

Mary had spent the whole morning with Todd doing random things, such as shopping, getting her nails done, seeing a girly movie, and a whole bunch of other things she knew Todd found boring, which was expected. She only dragged him along with her because she wanted to see how long he lasted before finally giving up on wanting to do things he liked with her, which, as of right now, was turning into a very comical scene.

"Ok Mary we have done everything you wanted to do. May we please go back to my place and just hang out?" Todd insisted with general honesty and no ulterior motives.

"Yes Todd baby we can go back to your place now." Mary replied, giving him a quick kiss.

The couple then left the store they were at and began walking down the street when all of a sudden Mary's phone began to ring, to which she answered it.

"Hello?"

"Mary, it's mom. Something happened with Lance. The police just called and they need us to come in for questioning. Are you busy?"

Mary looked at Todd for "permission" to go, inwardly chuckling at the word.

"Yea it's fine. I'll call you later." he mouthed.

"Yea mom I'm on my way down there now."

Mary then ended the call, gave Todd another kiss, then started jogging to the police station, which happened to be fairly close by.

Police Station Interrogation Room, Lance POV

The small room was dull and colorless. The only things worth noting were the security camera in the upper corner of the room, a table, four metal chairs, and the large fake mirror that was actually see through in the adjacent room.

Lance kept his calm, knowing that all he did was act in self defense of his new friend, though he knew that others might say he took things too far. Either way, he just wanted to get out of there and back home.

"Mr. Cass, would you please take a seat?" the officer escorting him said, gesturing towards one of the empty chairs.

Lance complied, eyeing the officer as he took his own seat at the table.

"Your mother and sister should be joining us soon son, they should be just a few minutes, if you don't mind waiting?"

Mom and Mary as well? What is this? Lance then shook his head in answer. Acknowledging this, the officer set the police laptop he was carrying onto the tabletop, and proceeded to set up the evidence for Lance and his family to see.

Five Minutes Later*

Lance was pulled from his thoughts by the sound of the door opening, and in stepped his mother and sister, both looking as anxious as he.

"Ahh, Ms. Cass and...Mary, correct? Thank you for coming down, we have much to discuss." the officer stated, gesturing for both of them to take a seat, to which they both complied.

The officer then took one final moment to prepare the video logs for the group, pushing the laptop in their direction.

Lance, Mary, and Emily watched in awe as they witnessed what Lance had done to the two thugs. Lance felt both his sister and his mother eye him for a moment before returning their attention back to the video, watching his finishing move on the larger thug, before the video stopped playing.

"So" the officer started, speaking to Emily, "obviously we can see that your son acted in self defense of his friend there, there's no questioning that. We can see however, that the way he carried out the act was possibly a little...overdone, or maybe even impossible given his age. Then there is the fact that a definite change can be seen in his behavior as soon as he started fighting, a change that nobody from my experience has ever had, even when facing danger. Believe me I think that everything your son did was right and justified, but the way things played out have just drawn a little attention to us."

The officer then turned his attention to Lance and spoke to him, "Lance, have you been feeling forms of anxiety, depression, or the like recently? Has something happened in your life that has troubled you in any way?"

Lance thought for a moment, but nothing came to mind.

"No, nothing that I can think of. I guess in the moment it seemed like the right way to act I can't really explain it." he replied.

"Hmm I see. Mary, do you have anything to add?"

"Other than the fact that neither my brother or I have met our father, nothing. But it isn't really a big deal, we have both moved past it." Mary answered.

Lance then noticed his mother shift uncomfortably, but decided not to address it.

"Well alright folks. Thanks again for the help." the officer said, handing Emily his card, "if you can think of anything else, don't hesitate to give us a call."

With that the trio left the police station, walking towards Lance's mother's car. Before any of them got in however, Emily gestured to her kids to gather round her.

"When we get home, there is something I need to tell you kids. I am going to tell you the truth about your father."

Both Lance and Mary looked at one another, wide eyed, then got into their mother's car, to which Emily did the same, and began the drive home.

18 Years Nine Months Earlier, Lucifer POV

Lucifer woke up on a pile of bones, his head pounding and his vision blurry. He felt hot, very hot, almost as if he were surrounded by lava. Standing up, he shook his head, his vision now returning slightly. Taking a look around him, he gasped at what he saw : a vast landscape, consisting of large mountains, lakes of lava, and a black void for the sky. Lucifer then stepped down off the pile of bones and started walking down a path in between two mountains. As he walked he heard screams of pain and death in the distance, causing him to quicken his pace down the path.

Some Time Later*

Lucifer emerged from in between the two mountains to find a large castle standing in the distance, sitting atop a floating island in the middle of a lake of lava.

"Wow" Lucifer said aloud to himself, "so ancient."

"Oh yes it is archangel." a voice said out of nowhere.

"Huh? Who's there?" Lucifer asked aloud, alert.

Suddenly, a winged creature flew down and landed right in front of Lucifer, startling him.

"Welcome home my lord. We have been awaiting your arrival."

So, here is the next chapter to this story. I hope that you all like it, as lately I have had some major writer's block. Review if you like it and if you don't tell me why, as criticism is appreciated greatly. I will try and be more consistent with my uploads, and hopefully I can get out of this roadblock in my writing and get things back to normal. I would also like to give credit to my friend for the early parts of the chapter, as she helped me write the "Georgia" scenes. See you all next time, whenever that may be.