Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ To Wish Upon The Sea ❯ Andromeda ( Chapter 7 )

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To Wish Upon the Sea

By: Melissa Norvell

Chapter 7: Andromeda

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Manami opened the door happily as she waited to be greeted by the naga on the other side. "I'm home!" She said as she walked into the room but found that no one was on the other side. It was completely barren. There was no sign of Thanatos anywhere. Pale eyes looked around but the house was left just as it was before she had gone out. "Huh? He's gone."

She decided to investigate further by looking around and glancing through all of the rooms. She peeked around every corner and looked in every available space but she'd not seen hide nor hair of the male.

'That's strange…He said that he'd wait for me…Maybe he stepped out. I think I'll just wait for him and hope that nothing happened to him.' The girl decided not to jump the gun so quickly, after all Thanatos had another home in the sea and she thought that maybe something had come up.

She'd wait for him as long as she could and if he'd not return by the time she began to get worried then she would look for him. The sea had given him to her and if he returned, then she could let it have him for a while. She knew in her heart that he would come back to her, surely

XxXx

Io, Thanatos, Thelios, Lorka, Xenosidon, Lazuli and Marjani were all present in the royal palace. They were gathered in the throne room and seemed to be discussing matters of royal importance. Thanatos was just slithering up to all of them and wondered why everyone had wanted him home so quickly. He didn't even have time to wait for Manami and was quite irritated that she'd be worried about him, though he wasn't sure why he was irritated at that matter.

He would have left her a note but she couldn't read his language so there was really no point.

"What's this all about?" He asked in an annoyed voice as he came up to the group. "I'm busy you know."

"It's not like you're the only one who's missing out, bro," Thelios told him. It's not like he wanted to be there either, so Thanatos could deal with it. He'd rather be out playing with Lorka and discovering the many delights of the wide-open seas.

"Just what are you two doing that's so important?" Thenatos asked slyly, trying to imply that Thelios and Lorka were eloping somewhere.

"Why do you care?" Thelios looked a little peeved. He knew what his brother was trying to say and didn't appreciate his commentary. "You never tell me where you are." He replied and cast an equally suspicious toned voice at him.

"Please," the elder brother rolled his eyes. "Do I look like your mother's keeper? Besides…I don't care where you are."

"Son, we're getting older and it will soon be time for you to take the throne. Have you thought about who you'd like to rule with?" Xenosidon knew that Thanatos was young and restless but he thought that he'd bring the problem up to him once again. He'd had problems keeping a woman by his side and he knew that Thanatos turned away most of the women that had been sent to the castle. Perhaps getting someone to love would calm him down. He could only hope anyway.

"Rule with?" The sly naga wrinkled his nose at this comment. He didn't really want to rule with anyone. He had a feeling that he might know what his parents were trying to get him to do but was a little outraged that they'd bring it up at a time like this.

"She's talking about a girlfriend," Io told him.

"What!?! No! I told you already, I'm hardly ready for love or to settle down," Thanatos was furious that his parents were trying to throw the love subject in his face yet again. Every time they would snoop in his business and try to set him up with a naga or something and he wouldn't even like her so he'd run her off.

"You know, when I was your age I was stubborn too. I never thought I needed anyone until I met your mother," his father told him kindly, trying to make him understand that he should give them a chance instead of running them all off as he had in the past.

"Parents always say things like that," the black-haired naga replied.

"Huh?" Both of his parents said in unison.

Thelios looked quite unamused with where this conversation was headed. For him it was a case of 'same crap different day' and he didn't like to be put in the middle of his brother and parent's love squabbles. 'Here we go again. The same thing happens every time they talk about this.'

"Parents think that everything their kid does is just like the things they've done. They are always stuck in the past," the dark haired one crossed his arms stubbornly across his well-muscled chest.

"We've been through the same experiences as you, son. We're just trying to help," his mother told him, looking at him with pale blue eyes.

"No offense but I really wish you didn't," Thanatos tried to be gentle to his mother but sometimes she just wouldn't back off.

"Could you at least consider our option?" Xenosidon asked.

Thanatos stared at the king a while in deep contemplation. He didn't want to be stuck with another who would figure out that he'd been seeing a human all of this time. It was far too dangerous to let someone else into his life. As much as he hated admitting it, even to himself, he didn't want to see anything bad befall Manami. He had kept her safe all this time and if another naga found out, he'd have no choice but to kill them. It wasn't only the girl's life that was on the line, it was his reputation as well.

'Do I really have a choice?' He finally sighed in defeat. "Fine…What do you want now?"

"Some friends of your mother's have a wonderful daughter that has been admiring you from a far."

'Oh no…' Io thought as a look of worry crossed her face. This was bad timing. She knew in her heart that her brother should go with the human girl, Manami. When he saw her, he acted in a way that she'd never seen with anyone. He was a much warmer person and at times he even seemed human, versus the cold man she'd seen in the past.

Marjani noticed the look on her friend's face.

"Sounds romantic! What's her name? What's she like?" Lorka asked.

"You seem more interested in her then my brother does," Thelios muttered.

"I was hoping we could be friends."

"Another girl?" Thanatos was unamused by this. He had thought that it was exactly what his parents were trying to do and he was right. What a bother this would be. How could he see Manami when some girl was hanging all over him?

"We're hoping this one will be different," his father replied.

"She won't be. They are all the same."

"What if he does have someone?" Io was referring to Manami and hoped that her brother would get the hint so he could dig himself out of this mess.

"What do you mean, Io?" Her mother asked, turning her head as her long, dark blue hair flowed around her.

"What if Thanatos loves someone already? Trying to make him love another person is wrong."

"Do you have someone you care about son? Is this true?" Xenosidon turned to him. Thanatos felt the eyes of everyone in the room upon him. Someone he loved? Honestly, what were they talking about? He didn't love anyone at the moment and didn't even know how Io came up with such a thing.

"What?" He looked to her in confusion.

'Please, please say that you love the human. If for no other reason than to get yourself out of this predicament, I don't like seeing you upset about being with those girls that you don't like.' Io secretly prayed within the depths of her mind that he would agree with her.

"You mean those stupid rumors?" He asked.

"Yes, are they true?"

"Rumors?" His father had not heard of any such rumors about the prince. Word must have carried as far as the village and had not escaped to the palace yet.

"I'm surprised that you haven't heard about them. There are rumors that Thanatos has fallen in love with someone," Marjani stated.

"Blasphemy!" The naga retorted. He was very sick of all of these so called rumors. By admitting that they were true would throw him into more trouble then he'd be in if he simply held one of these women at bay. Loving a human was a high offense in that naga world. It was almost like treason. There was no way that he'd admit anything- especially anything that wasn't true.

"Huh?" Marjani turned her attention to his outburst.

"You mean you don't love her?" Io asked.

"Just because I see and talk to her doesn't mean that I love her. Get real!"

"I didn't think you loved anyone. You're way too harsh for that. You'll be old and crippled and still alone." Thelios half way teased. After all, Thanatos was very hard to get along with and the one who could capture his heart would be one truly worthy of having him. His brother frowned at his statement as he was soon scolded by his sister.

"Thelios! Don't say things like that!" Io punished him. She knew that what he said wasn't true.

“Who is it that you love, son?" His mother reached around his shoulder and gave him a light hug. She'd never try and force him to love anyone that he didn't want to. If he had another person to love, then she'd call it off with her friend's daughter. Her son was so secretive that it was hard to know if he was with anyone or not.

"Or rumored so at least?" Marjani asked.

"Some girl that I've been talking to," Thanatos said coldly. He felt a little stinging sensation within his chest as he forced that last part of the sentence out. "She means nothing to me." It came out in a lot more of a sorrowful tone then he thought it would and cursed himself for having emotion at a time like this. 'If she meant nothing to me, then why am I so sad that I said it? I need to get a grip! She's just some human! What's wrong with me? Argh! This is so frustrating! I wish people would stop asking me about dating!'

"Do you want to meet her at least? She's a very charming girl," Lazuli knew her son was having some trouble so she gave him his space and if he didn't want to see her then she would understand.

"She seems like someone you'd get along with," Xenosidon decided to gently nudge him in her direction verbally.

"Why not? You'll eventually show her to me anyway," Thanatos gave in to his parents' wishes. He knew that they would sneak this in on him in some way or another so why not go with it now?

'He's just giving up?' Io's face slowly sunk into a solemn look. She was worried about this whole situation. 'Thanatos…why are you lying just to make them happy?'

"Oh, I can't wait!" Lorka cheered.

"I can," Thelios replied in an unamused tone. "It's just another girl in his life. He's had about fourty-eight of them walk in and out of it and he didn't care about any of them. I'm pretty sure he won't care about her either. Nice girls are always shot down first. He ends up making them angry or being a horrible pain. He'll never find anyone he likes."

"He seems like he dreads this," Marjani spoke as she looked at the male naga's body posture. She could tell by the look in his deep green eyes that he wasn't enjoying this moment at all.

"How can you tell?" His younger brother asked.

"His posture is slightly loose and he looked defeated and even a little sad. You can tell by the tone in his voice," Marjani said as they all made their way out of the castle to see what type of women her parents had picked out for their prince.

Outside there was a female naga waiting at the door a few feet away. She had extremely long, straight, white silken hair that cascaded well past her form and stunning blue eyes that were slanted with a lot of eyelashes framing them. Her skin was pale and her horns slender and adorned with gold rings. She wore a lavender dress that had straps which crossed in the front and wound over her shoulders. She was very slender and her tail was a beautiful shade of white that looked almost pearly in coloration. Her red painted lips smiled slyly at the prince.

"Hello, my name is Andromeda," she greeted and slithered up to her alleged mate.

'She's beautiful.' Thanatos thought upon taking in her features. He had never seen someone who looked so fair. It was as if he'd met a goddess.

'Don't give in to temptation; please don't give in to temptation.' Io's thoughts begged.

Andromeda bowed. "It's so nice to finally meet his royal highness," she curtseyed and took a hold of his hand in hers, feeling his calloused, yet majestic form and slowly glancing up at him. "I'm sure we'll be good friends."

"Right," Thanatos blushed a little. Most women he'd met weren't this forward at all. There was definitely something different about her and perhaps getting to know her wasn't such a bad idea. His parents may have just found someone he could actually love out of all of the other naga out there.

XxXx

Manami looked out of the window, deep in thought about the events that had just happened in her life. A flashback of what Marjani said reeled through her head.

"Thanatos is a prince."

'I feel so lucky to be able to spend so much time with someone so important. I want to ask him so many questions but he doesn't know that I know. What should I do? Should I tell him that I know? It seems wrong to just hide it. I think I'll talk to him when he comes back. I wonder where he went. It's kind of weird that he didn't even leave me a note.' The black-haired girl thought, then attempted to rid herself of going on the path to worry and negative thoughts. "He'll be back! I'll just fix us some lunch!"

XxXx

"Do you like her?" His mother asked upon noticing his blush when their hands made contact.

"I just met her."

"I hope to be nothing like the girls you've been with in the past," Andromeda informed.

"Don't go making promises with me now," Thanatos didn't like the way she'd just butted in to his affairs. Manami was still in the picture and she was not like the other girls and even if she is a girl of his past, Andromeda had no right to call shots like that.

"I'll just have to show you then," the white-haired naga moved in close to his face and stared into his eyes with a confident smile on her face. Thanatos stared back into her eyes. He made sure to show her no weakness for women like herself.

"What do we do about Manami?” Marjani asked, a few feet away from the two.

"Who?" Io had never heard of anyone named Manami before.

"The girl that Thanatos likes."

"You know her?"

"Yes, I do."

"I'd love to meet her someday. Maybe you can take me to her sometime. "

"Sure," Marjani agreed, 'at the rate things are going, you might not get that chance.'

"Why do you two look so down? I'm sure she'll be alright for him. Look at how they are hitting it off. At this rate you'll have a sister-in-law, Io!" Lorka was happy compared to the two worried and saddened older females.

"That's what worries me," Io set sights upon the two.

"Why?" Innocent blue eyes looked to her friend's solemn face.

"I don't think she's the one for him. I think he should be with that girl."

"The one in the rumors? Why? She isn't even one of us," Lorka knew the rumors all too well and wasn't keen on the idea of naga and human relationships. She couldn't trust a race that hunted them and tried to horde their magical powers for themselves.

"Does it matter?"

"Huh?"

"I agree," Marjani interjected, "his parents drag in all of these women but none of them caught his eyes until the one that rumors are being spread about. He actually goes to see her."

"He seemed…happier…True, he was a little confused about it but that, I think is because he feels fond of her. It was the first time I'd seen him happy and now it's just going to get screwed up," Io felt like crying. It simply wasn't fair what was being done to him and Manami's relationship. She wished she could stop him but knew that it was no use.

"We can't interfere with this. It will have to be something that Thanatos does for himself," Marjani replied.

Lorka was confused. She didn't understand why they were so upset. Thanatos looked happy to her, or at least he looked like he'd be willing to work with her. The pink haired naga thought that the two older female would be happy with this decision but who was she to judge?

"I don't understand any of this. I hope my life isn't this complicated when I get older," she sighed.

"This Andromeda, ever heard anything about her?" Marjani asked. Since she was the daughter of one of her mother's friends, she thought that maybe Io had some information on her.

"No but I know I don't like her."

"You actually don't like someone? I've never heard you say that before," Lorka replied, her eyes were slightly widened by her comment. Io was so kind and had always given anyone a chance but for some reason, she was 100 against this woman for some reason. Lorka was sure that she had her own reason but felt a little odd that she seemed to dislike her for no apparent reason.

"I don't. It's unfair," Io clenched her fists by her side.

"But that girl is human," the short-haired naga tried to argue her opinion.

"There's nothing wrong with humans. Not all of them are bad."

"Where did Thelios go?" Marjani looked around for the small boy but found no sign of him. He must have snuck off to avoid the after math of the situation. She didn't blame him for doing so and if she knew that things would turn out like this, she wouldn't have bothered staying either.

"I don't know," Lorka had been so sidetracked that she didn't even notice that he was gone. She was so excited about meeting Andromeda that she hadn't been paying attention to her friend at all.

Thelios was headed out of the doorway. He was just waiting for an opportunity to sneak out underneath of everyone's watchful eyes. The serious environment wasn't the one for him- that's for sure. He'd much rather play then worry about his brother's girlfriends or what everyone thought about them. Lectures and tedious words were something he'd rather forget.

He looked back at everyone with a devilish smile. "I'm so glad that I was able to sneak away while they were talking. Who cares who my brother is with as long as he's happy? Girls can be so picky sometimes, huh?" He blinked as he saw Andromeda and Thanatos on one of the balconies. They were very close and he could hardly make out their figures because he'd swim so far out. He stopped and watched them for a while.

Surely Andromeda wasn't that bad. Io and Marjani made her out to be Satan in disguise.

"You can see your whole kingdom from here. It must make you feel powerful," Andromeda gazed over the edge of the balcony at the kingdom below.

Thanatos said nothing.

"Something wrong my prince?" She looked towards the man in question.

"Nothing, stay out of my business," Thanatos retorted coldly. 'It's going to be even harder to see Manami with some cling on around.' His green eyes narrowed upon trying to devise a way that he could go back to the girl he'd left behind. He worried for her safety and until now, she'd known nothing of the world but him.

"Why don't we do something tomorrow? Your parents do want you to spend some time with me," he suggested.

"I might be busy."

"You should at least try to get to know me."

"I'd rather not," Thanatos was avoidant of her suggestions.

"I'm not your typical naga."

"Whatever."

XxXx

Manami was silently cooking a few fish over the fire in preparation for Thantos' arrival. She was in a good mood and was humming as she turned the fish to cook all sides of it as the flames from the fire danced around it. 'Thanatos will be so happy! Especially when I show him how good I cooked this. I can't wait to see his face!'

Xxxx

'I see this nut will be a bit more difficult to crack.' Andromeda thought to herself. "Come on, at least try." She attempted to convince Thanatos to show some sort of interest in her.

"If I say yes will you stop bugging me?" He asked sarcastically.

"If you actually go on a date with me and don't skip out," Andromeda told him. This was very annoying. Here she was trying to win over his heart and nothing seemed to be getting through to the stubborn naga prince. She wasn't about to give up. If he didn't skip out on her then it would be a start to building their relationship.

"Fine, fine, but let's make it short. I have somewhere I have to be."

"Where?" She wondered what was more important to him then his date with her.

"Stay out of my business! Damn!" He never had a long patience and she was getting on his last nerves with her constant questioning. He felt like he didn't have a moment's peace around the woman. "Five seconds into this relationship and you are already being nag!"

"I'm not nag!" Andromeda was irritated. How dare he call someone of her beauty a nag!? What nerve!

"Then back off," he warned.

"Fine! But if you don't keep your word then you'll be hearing from me again!" She fumed.

The unamused prince sighed, "I'm sure I will," he retorted sarcastically as she slithered out of the door and left. His sights were then turned to his kingdom below. The prince was silent as he thought to himself. 'Crud, what now? As long as Andromeda is here, I can't go back to Manami today. If I didn't have to leave so fast then I would have left her something that told her my problem. I just hope nothing happens to her while I'm gone.'

Above the rushing sea tides, Manami was waiting patiently for her prince to come home to her. She was preparing the plates as she anticipated his arrival. She knew that she'd see him emerge from the sea soon and could nearly picture the look of surprise on his face as she showed him her well prepared meal.

Looking to the tides out of her window she thought about her prince and sighed lightly to herself.

'Come home soon…Thanatos-sama…' The girl smiled.

To Be Continued…