Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ To Wish Upon The Sea ❯ Confrontation ( Chapter 4 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

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To Wish Upon The Sea

By: Melissa Norvell

Chapter 4: Confrontation

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The lonely girl sat on the hardwood floor of her house, weeping lowly to herself. She was worried beyond all belief and felt at fault for the events that had happened before. Now she couldn't see Thanatos or spend any time with him at all. He was her only friend and he caused her to find the strength to become happy, even in moments where that emotion would be futile to produce.

But now she was faced with nothing but loneliness. There was no living body beside of her to run to when things had been at their worse. She would now have to force herself to make Thanatos become nothing but a ghost of the past. Manami should have known that happiness was never in her reach. Eternity had branded her damned, and the damned are condemned to solitude in the arms of abuse.

Eternity had always been cold and unmoving to her. She should expect no less.

But still she pondered on what she could do to still keep a grip on this happiness.

'What am I going to do?' She thought to herself as she silently scrubbed the hardwood floors with a long bristled brush. The swishing sound that the small tool made was all that could be heard as she worked away. 'I can't see Thanatos-sama anymore.' Pale eyes looked up at the ceiling in sorrow. They sparkled with sadness as silent tears remained locked within their depths. Over time, Manami knew that crying now would be useless. No one would hear her tears. No one that cared anyway. 'I'm so sorry...' The girl gave herself a comforting hug.

"It hurts…" She said lowly as one of her silent tears hit the floor, dispersing in even smaller tears which spread across the hardwood floor a few inches from their initial contact.

XI.

Behind a nearby tree, the devious naga lurked menacingly. His sharp green eyes locked onto his surroundings, glancing around in search of something. He peeked around the harsh, stiff bark to get a better look. Thanatos wanted to make sure what he sought was in the vicinity, but he also wanted to make sure that his prey didn't see him.

It was crucial that he remained unnoticed for the time being.

He spied Manami's small house a few feet away. He smirked darkly. This was just the opportunity he'd been looking for. He had a straight shot to the door, as long as no one spotted him before he was able to get inside.

'That must be where they went. I wonder what's going on inside.'

Manami looked back down to the lone scrubber which lay at her knees. 'I really should get back to my chores…I don't want to get hit again.' She began to pick up the brush and scrub the floor sadly as one of the last heart-felt things that Thanatos had told her reverberated through her mind.

"Manami…Don't worry…"

'That's so hard to do.' Her thoughts seemed to answer the sentence of the past. 'But you're right. I have to be strong, for you Thanatos-sama...'

'Now, I have to sneak in there and get to her. Then I'll deal with her old man.' Thanatos thought devilishly to himself.

Inside, the girl was busily scrubbing away, even though her heart wasn't into her chores today. Manami felt empty without the thought of being with Thanatos. The girl always made sure to do her best when she looked forward to their fated meeting by the sea, but now she had nothing to look forward to, no goal to obtain. So there was no use in trying as she had before.

Suddenly a dark shadow befell her form. The presence of this shadow caused a slight chill to go up the young girl's spine. She turned her head, her black hair following suit and it swung over her shoulder and pale blue eyes widened in shock as she set sights on a familiar form. Manami gasped at the male before her.

"Thanatos-sama."

"I'm going to get you out of here."

"How did you get here?"

"I followed him here."

"But I'm going to get in trouble."

"No."

"No?" the girl blinked in confusion. Usually she'd gotten in trouble for something like that. Why was she not going to now?

Thanatos wore a stern look and narrowed his eyes. "He won't hurt you again, Manami."

"But I don't want you to get hurt."

"Nor I you. You've been suffering for too long." Though his voice was serious and his eyes shone cold, here was a small amount of kindness hidden within their depths that only Manami could comprehend. This made her feel happy inside. Someone had truly cared about her. This was a feeling that she'd never had before. It was nice.

But Manami was still worried, "Thanatos-sama."

"Stay here, Manami," he ordered and the girl agreed as he slithered out of the room in search for her father as the abused girl's thoughts ran rampant in her mind.

'What should I do? I know that father will kill Thanatos if he finds him here…But I said I would stay here.' Manami looked around frantically. 'I can't! I have to go!' Manami stood up, a fierce determination racing through her being as she grabbed a broom firmly picking it up and preparing to follow the naga off. 'I know it's not much, but I'm sure it will help. I won't let him hit Tanatos like he hits me.'

'Now…Where is that old scum bag anyway?' Thanatos continued to look around. As he slithered silently around the corner of the room he was in, he set his sights on his soon-to-be destination: the kitchen. He saw her father, looking in the fridge for something to eat. Green eyes narrowed and the sly naga produced a toothy grin of devilish glee. 'Bingo.'

The black-haired girl clutched the broom close to her being as she ran from room to room, eyes darting around wildly for any sight of Thanatos. After three rooms of failure, she paused to think.

'Oh! He's not here either! Where could he be? I have to find him fast, before something bad happens between him and father.' The girl ran down the hall, the thumping of her bare feet against the ground was all that could be heard fading off into the distance.

"So," the naga started, causing the gruff-looking man's head to snap back to his direction. "You think you can hurt little girls huh?"

"What? Who the hell are you?" Her father asked defensively, glaring the other male down.

"That's not your concern," Thanatos told him sternly. "You should be worried about your life, considering that's what I came here to take."

A crooked smile formed on the rugged man's face. "Heh, I'll take yours first. Besides, naga goes for a good price on the market."

The very sentence enraged the other male beyond all belief. His senses left him, and all he could even think to do was react on an impulse. So that's what he did. He lunged and grabbed his sword and pulled it out. "If you can kill me, you can have me."

Her father ran to the nearby wall, yanking a decorative spear from it and holding it out to the naga, ready to stab him at any chance he can get. "Then let's get to it then!" He charged at him, spear in hand intent to kill upon first strike, only his move was interrupted by the metal face of a large shield.

"Humans are so predictable," Thanatos sliced with his sword as Manami's father dodged swiftly out of the way.

"Apparently naga must be as well, considering the fact that you've been hunted for years," he shot back.

"Shut up!" Thanatos snarled, attempting to cut off his head once more, but the human dodged once more. Thanatos then attempted to cut his legs off, but the man jumped and knocked the shield out of the naga's arms.

"Shit!" Thanatos cursed.

"Got you!" Manami's father lunged at him with his spear drawn. The naga moved to the side as his spear jabbed into the wall inches away from him.

"This isn't good," Thanatos said obviously.

"Die!" The man shouted as he pulled out a knife, lunging for the naga as Manami ran through the opened door and dropped the broom, stunned by what she saw.

Then, on impulse she screamed 'no' and jumped onto his back in an attempt to stop him from stabbing Thanatos and it worked for a while.

"Eyargh!" Her father screamed, flailing around with the girl on his back as he stumbled back. "You little brat!" He yelled, easily slinging her off.

"Don't treat her like that!" The sly one yelled.

Manami lay on her side on the ground, motionless and speechless.

"Thanatos-sama…" She finally spoke after a moment of silence. The girl watched as the two shadows on the wall struggled against each other and several grunting noises filled the air. A spear was flung out of her father's hands and eventually the sword that Thanatos once possessed was sent tumbling through the air as well. Thanatos was then punched in the face by her father. The naga's head turned sharply to the side at the impact of his fist.

The girl remained silent She watched helplessly as the two men began to fist fight. As the struggled, Manami could see something sticking out of her father's back pants pocket.

It was a gun.

Her eyes widened upon sight of it, instantly knowing what her father was up to. 'Oh no! Thanatos-sama! I have to try and pull the gun out of his pocket while he's busy fighting. I can't let Thanatos die! I wished upon the sea to get him.' The girl's expression turned into a sad one, and then something within her began to grow as determination soon replaced the sorrow. 'I can't let him be taken away now!' The girl began to crawl over towards the confrontation. When she got half way there she reached out to grab it but missed and her father noticed, turning with a wild-eyed look at her. His eyes filled with wild rage.

"Yah!" Her father yelled out, kicking backwards and hitting his daughter in the stomach, the breath being knocked out of her form as the body flew back, and landing against the wall savagely.

"Eh…" Was the only noise that the girl could produce as the familiar sense of pain flooded her body.

"Manami!" Thanatos called out to the girl, and attempted to get to her. But a gunshot was heard and the dark green eyes of the naga widened in both shock and pain. Blood streamed behind him, splattering on the wall in abstract glory. Widened green eyes could see pale blue ones mirror his reaction from across the room. Manami's hands flew to cover her mouth as she produced a small gasp.

"Thanatos-sama…" The girl replied, barely above a whisper.

Thanatos looked down at the gunshot wound in his shoulder. 'That bastard shot me!' He thought through his haze of surprise, as he pondered over the incident more and more, wild rage began to course through his being, filling him with malice. His eyes shown with the primal feelings he experienced. His adrenalin pumped faster and faster as his rage grew.

"Die!" He lunged forward swiftly- almost inhumanly as his sword pierced her father's chest. A blood-curdling scream was produced as the cold, unfeeling metal object was rammed through the man's body. Manami didn't know what to feel. Her mind was a whirlwind of emotion. Thanaos had just killed her father, but she seemed relieved more than sad because this man would not be hitting her again. She rushed over to the injured naga as the man's body fell silently to the ground, staining the hardwood floor with his blood.

"Thanatos-sama…are you alright?" She looked up to the one in question with worry.

"What do you think?" Thanatos asked sarcastically, clutching his wound momentarily as the pain coursed through his body, "I got shot."

The black haired girl slowly reached up to the naga's wound gently touching around it with her fingertips. "It must hurt," she said sympathetically.

"I'll be fine…" He shrugged her concern off, "and now you will be too."

"I'm so confused."

"Why?" Thanatos asked.

"If it's a good thing that he's dead, why do I feel so bad? And what will I do now? I have no where to stay."

"Stay here," he told her. "I'll take care of you."

"Really?" She looked to him with big round eyes, shining with innocence.

"Yes. Don't look at me like that," he hold her sternly and she averted her eyes.

"Sorry."

"Since I killed him, I'll take responsibility for my actions," he replied.

"You'll be like my father then?" She asked.

"No," she shot, obviously offended that she would even dare to compare him to that man.

"Oh…" The girl spoke, knowing that she must have said something wrong.

"I don't want to think of our relationship like that. If anything, let's think of it as friends…for now," Thanatos told her, then instantly regretted the last part of his sentence. 'For now? For now!? What am I thinking? Then again…I can't help but feel oddly attracted to this girl…At least she won't get hurt again…' He stared down at the girl. 'Now that I'm here…No one will ever harm you, Manami. I'll be sure of it. You've shown great strength in my fight with your father. With a little positive reinforcement, I can transform you from a wallflower to a woman worthy of knowing me.'

To Be Continued…