I Swear I'm Not Homesick

Chapter One - Prologue

(A/N: This is a part of a backstory for Lucifer that I created-I've only read 1-6 of the LNs at the time of writing this, so I'm not too aware of any canon backstory that he has. So, pretty much what you need to know is that in this story, Lucifer DID try to leave Heaven out of boredom, but was stopped by God and ended up in a nasty fight about why and his slacking off, which ended in him getting thrown out..it took a while before the reality really hit him. Note-this is a much younger and very different version of Lucifer, so his character is a bot different. This isn't my first fanfic, but it is my first I've ever posted, so feedback is welcome. Hope you enjoy!)

The day was clear. Autumn leaves floated on the surface of the silvery river, flowing smoothly through the golden trees. It was early afternoon, but save for the sparkling water, you could barely tell due to the dappling of shadow and icy winter light on the leafy carpet. It was quiet, the soft silence only broken by the light chattering of animals and the murmurs of bushes and grass. The air was crisp, but the wind was slight-a perk that had been taken advantage of by the two boys sitting at the riverbank, sharing the the last of a rabbit stew that had been prepared by the mother of the one on the left. He was tall and slim, with tousled sandy-brown hair and matching brown eyes. His tunic and wool cloak were also brown, giving him the appearance of a very cheerful dead tree. He was currently in the midst of telling a quite engaging - by the looks of his exuberant hand gestures - story to his companion, a much smaller-but just as thin-boy with dark purple hair and bangs that covered the right side of his face. He seemed to have something else on his mind, as his visible violet eye was staring blankly over the water, and he hadn't even noticed his dark gray cloak unclasp and slip down like it so often did.

"Cedric? Cedric, are you listening?" The taller boy asked, looking back over at the purple-haired teen and tapping his shoulder.

"Huh?" Asked 'Cedric,' snapping out of his daze to face the other boy, "Oh, yeah, yeah."

The brunette raised an eyebrow, clearly unconvinced, "Oh? So what did I just say?"

Cedric froze, knowing he was caught, "Well..you were saying your sister Annalise...and there was a pickaxe.." He fumbled, rubbing the back of his neck. His companion just crossed his arms and watched as he tried to salvage his lie, to no success. Eventually he sighed and gave up.

"Ugh, no, I had my head in the clouds. Sorry Zachariah."

Zachariah shook his head at the shorter teen, but luckily he was smiling.

"Cedric, what has been eating at you? I haven't been able to have a coherent talk with you in days, and you say it's nothing but it's clearly something!"

Cedric looked away, instead occupying himself with pulling his cloak back over his shoulders.

"No, It's nothing. I've just been a bit sick lately, the chill's probably getting to me."

"Honestly Cedric, is that what this is? I know you won't go to the healer, but if you're really having problems you should come stay with me and recover, that ancient shack can't be good for you!" Zachariah groaned. It was true that the coming of fall caused most of the people to get a bit under the weather, but they all had warm fires, thick walls and the local apothecary to help them out-and if that didn't work, they took to the local Church for a blessing. Cedric, however, and always shown a strong aversion to Kenda - the healer, and he blatantly refused to enter the church, apparently due to a falling out he had had with his father-who was a church official a few towns over. He had admittedly entered a few times for the funerals and birthing ceremonies that the entire village was encouraged to attend, but he had always had an odd reaction to the building, looking to be somewhere between wanting to stay and wanting to get out of there as quickly as possible. As for Kenda, he just seemed to hate her. Understandable since she was sort of a crabby woman, but it did seem a bit undeserved.

Zachariah had accepted these quirks soon after becoming friends with the ex-vagrant, but he had become increasingly frustrated with his refusal to get checked for any sort of illness when they started going around. Cedric was a stubborn one, but so was Zachariah-which often led to heated arguments that luckily had only split them for three days at most. There had been a point where he had convinced Cedric to stay with him for a while when he first found out the violet-eyed boy had been living in an abandoned shack in the woods in the dead of winter, but it hadn't ended well. The crowded nature of the small cottage Zachariah shared with his parents and four siblings had made him very uncomfortable and he had left after two days. Hence his immediate distaste for the suggestion.

"I'm fine, Zachariah. It'll pass in a few days, it always does," he drawled, setting his bowl back into the basket and standing up, " Look, I have to get going. Tell your mother the stew was great, but I have things to do."

"What kind of things?" The taller boy protested, sending Cedric a frustrated look.

"You know..work," he replied, waving his hand to compensate for the vague statement.

"Alright.." Zachariah sighed, "Just don't die, you hear me?"

That got a low chuckle out of the pale teen, "I won't, you needn't worry."

Then he pulled his hood up and wandered off into the woods, leaving his companion to ponder his strange behavior.

I've got to find out what's going on, Zachariah thought, I'm not so sure he's really sick..