In that month, Chris and Justin had returned to La to visit Britney. Joey had gone with them until La and then traveled on to the port town saying he wanted to travel to new lands. Meanwhile, Edgar had been crowned King and Lance had finally set off on Freelance also decided to leave the land a week after the others had left.
On his way to port town of York, Lance had stopped in La and discovered that Chris and Justin had moved on with Joey to make sure he reached York safely and then they were going to be heading back to La.
Reaching York, Lance didn’t waste time to stop at any of the many shops, deciding rather to ride swiftly to the docks and leave on the next boat.
As he secured Freelance in his temporary stall, he noticed that Joey was also on the ship but Lance chose to ignore Joey has he walked over to the edge of the ship and stared out at the busy docks, wondering when they could leave.
“I see you’re back to your old self of not talking,” teased a familiar voice and Lance spun around to find Joshua standing behind him a few feet away.
“But . . . how?” asked Lance in shock. “I saw you fall!”
“Joey also saw me fall,” smiled Joshua as he walked slowly up next to Lance. “He pulled me out of the water before I could drown and took care of me while you guys were searching for my body.”
“But why would you want everyone to think you’re dead?”
“I don’t want to be king Lance,” sighed Joshua. “The only way I wouldn’t be was if I died, then the throne would fall to Edgar.”
“I missed you,” whispered Lance, wrapping Joshua in a tight hug and gently kissing his lips. “But how did you know I was going to be heading this way? I take it you came with Joey, Chris and Justin but they left a week head of me and I had no clue at that point were I was headed!”
“I knew if you thought I was dead you would want to leave the land as soon as possible,” replied Joshua giving Lance a kiss. “Everything in this land would of reminded you of me. I knew that York was the nearest port town so I figured that was where you would go.”
“I love the fact you know me so well,” smiled Lance.
“I just plain love you,” whispered Joshua.
“Don’t die on me ever again!”
“I don’t plan on it.”
“You two are so cute,” announced Joey walking over to them.
“You know Joey, I could kill you for keeping him away from me,” replied Lance but he had a smile on his face.
“I was only following orders!” protested Joey backing away.
“Sorry babe, but you can’t kill any of my friends,” smiled Joshua. “Especially the one who saved my life.”
“All right,” sighed Lance dramatically.
“You can kill someone else when we reached wherever we’re going,” smiled Joshua, kissing Lance lightly.
“Thief!” came a cry from the crowd breaking their chatter as the ship began moving away from the dock.
“Wait!” cried two familiar voices and the trio soon saw Chris and Justin running for the moving boat.
Racing to the end of the dock, the pair then leaped for the ship, grabbing for the railing and then being hauled aboard by Joey and Joshua.
“I thought you two said you were giving up stealing?” asked Joey after both were safely in the boat leaving the dock and the screaming man behind them.
“We did!” protested Justin. “That was a moron who thought we didn’t pay for our lunch!”
“Whatever,” laughed Lance, not believing them. However before either Justin or Chris could reply he gently started pulling Joshua away so that they could spend some time alone for a while.
“You two are too much,” replied Joey shaking his head as he too wandered off.
“They’re just jealous they had to pay for passage and we didn’t,” Chris told Justin when they were alone. “Which reminds me we need to be careful not to get caught or else we will have to pay.”
“We don’t want that!” chuckled Justin as he stared back at the land, now in the distance. “Do you think Britney will be mad that I didn’t come back when I promised I would?”
“Aw, she’ll forgive you Justin,” reassured Chris. “She’s a woman. What harm can she do?”