Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Sacrifice ❯ Marchois ( Chapter 73 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

By: MellyN

XxXxXx

Sacrifice

By: Melissa Norvell

Chapter 73: Marchois

XxXxXx

"Things are very dangerous beneath the sea. I just hope that they can handle themselves down there," Manami informed the group with a worried glance cast towards the water. Living with the naga, allowed her to know exactly what the horrors of the deep could be and she feared for those who dared to venture beneath the depths.

"They've been through a lot. I'm sure that they can pull this off," Zangetsu had faith in them. At this point in time, there was no other choice and nothing that any of them could do from up there. It was all up to Keiji, Ko, Undine and Chichiri.

There was no way that he'd count his team mates out before the journey even began. The ninja looked at Tsurugi, who sat on a rock, glancing at the grass below peacefully.

"I should tell them something," Hiroshima spoke up after a long silence. Ever since they had come out of Sumeria, he had been thinking about his status in the group and his relationship with the humans there. It was his duty as their guardian angel to protect them; however, he couldn't keep managing things the way he was now.

It was far better to tell them something about himself, even if he was afraid at how they might react to the bitter and painful truth.

Manami and Zangetsu looked at the conflicted angel, listening to what he had to say.

"Then seem to care for the most part. We may be a bit dysfunctional but when it comes down to it, we'd really help each other in the end," Tsurugi tried to give his mate some courage. He too knew that there were certain facts that could no longer be hidden about who they were and what their jobs were, both according to their agreement with the Red Witch and otherwise.

"I think I'll tell them something when they come back," Hiroshima decided. There was no time like the present to face your fears.

"You'll trust them that much?" The blonde looked surprised. He knew that the depressed angel had been doing a lot of reflecting at Vasca's castle, but he didn't think that he would actually tell them things of a grand significance.

"It's hard to trust but I've got no choice. I can't keep acting like an ass to them because I don't want to be hurt if they judge me. I need to be honest with them." It was a hard resolution but he knew that there was no other way to avoid it. In many ways he was warned by the witch that hiding his past and job was inevitable and he knew that going into their agreement.

"I'm glad you've decided to swallow your pride. You seem like you actually want to do the right thing, despite your harsh legend," Zangetsu had been silently observing the angel and he noticed that he had begun to change. Hiroshima was becoming a little more open with everyone.

"I deserve what I get but only when I give it. Right now, I'm trying to protect you all," the spiky-haired angel stated.

"I think things will be fine as long as nothing else is hidden," Fife told everyone, knowing full aware of what could be said to him as a result.

"I agree, let's try to be honest. It seems to cause more problems when we do," Tsurugi decided not to say anything to the vampire king about what had happened in the past. The past was simply that- the past.

"You just have to accept what you have to say, unfortunately," Zangetsu commented.

"That doesn't mean that it hurts any less," Hiroshima knew fully well the consequences of his actions.

"We all have our points but I think that's what makes us stronger," the ninja replied. After all, weaknesses were fought off and overcame. Each one of them had a major trial or tribulation in their way and managed to overcome it, no matter what the circumstances.

This task would be no different, and if nothing else, easier than the others.

XxXxXx

The female warrior naga swam around a colorful coral reef and stopped. She glanced back over her shoulder; long hair flowed around her as she turned her head to see Eclipse. A perplexed and serious look crossed her face. 'Who is she and why is she following me? I'd better be on guard. I can't lead her to our clan. I must defeat her.'

With determination leaking into her intense eyes, the naga warrior decided to approach the situation in order to protect her clan. Above anything else, she would not lead the black-clad woman to her clan. For many sought to hunt and kill her kind and she would not be the cause of deaths among the naga clan and she would do whatever it took to protect them against potentially dangerous humans who swan the sea in search for their scales, hair and horns.

She swam towards the woman with her spear drawn at full speed in an attempt to possibly scare her off.

Eclipse stopped to see the tenacious naga female charging at her with her weapon drawn. 'It's coming at me. What now?' The woman thought about her situation and how to approach it. She had several ways of disposing of such an annoying being but she'd rather try and talk things out to see if the being knew where the Marchois was located.

The naga then stopped, holding her spear with the tip pointed up as her long, purple hair floated around her as she stared down the strange woman with bi-colored hair with a serious expression on her face. "Who are you? State your purpose."

Eclipse thought for a moment about her situation. 'I can't talk underwater. Looks like I'll have to pull out some magic.' The eye patch-clad woman placed both arms to either side of her body, producing an air bubble around herself to allow communication with the naga warrior. 'Black Sphere,' she instructed her magic mentally as the bubble tinted itself to a black color, which caused the wine-haired naga to shrink back a little.

"Ah, finally some air," Eclipse took a deep breath. Unlike the others, she came without scuba gear, only being held by magic. "To answer your question, my name is Eclipse and I'm searching for something down here."

"Why are you following me?" The female naga asked, finding the act very suspicious. What exactly was she looking for?

"I thought you might know where it is."

"Where what is?" The warrior asked.

"Have you seen a shell around here?" Eclipse questioned. "It resembled a clam shell and is quite large with a pearlized look. It's called Marchois."

"I've not seen one of those in years. I'm not even sure that they exist anymore," the naga explained. It was unheard of that someone would even mention the Marchois anymore. This was actually the first time in her entire life that someone did mention the shell.

"What?" Eclipse was a bit taken aback from hearing that. 'I wonder if Mistress Soel knows about this? What do I do now?' The woman wondered why her mistress would send her to obtain an item that didn't exist anymore. Was this some kind of test or cruel joke?

"Huh?"

Then, out of the corner of her visible eye, she could see Keiji, Undine, Ko and Chichiri swimming through the vast depths of the sea with Thanatos. Her sight turned to then. 'What's this?'

"Who are they?" The naga female looked at them.

They had split up and decided to check different areas of the sea. Ko was checking out a nearby coral reef and swam in and out of its intricate arches. Undine swam out of a cave that she had been combing over with no results. Keiji scoured the bottom of the sandy ground, green eyes looking intently at the sand as he covered every inch. Just then, a sand-dwelling fish uncovered itself in a fright and shot out and away from the boy, startling him. The boy opened his mouth out of sheer reaction and swam towards the top of the sea and surfaced. Ko, Undine and Chichiri soon followed.

"Did you see it?" The green-haired boy asked his search party.

Chichiri snickered. "No but I saw the look on your face when that fish scared the shit out of you."

"Shut up," Keiji glared.

"I searched in the cave and all that was there were underwater crystals," Undine informed the group of her findings.

"I guess we should go to another part of the ocean," Ko suggested to the ground. They obviously weren't having any luck as they were and where they were.

"These things are rare, right? So how do we know we're even going to find one?" Chichiri asked. They were called rare for a reason and even the naga had told them that they were uncertain if one existed.

"If we absolutely cannot find it, then we'll return to the island Fife, Zangetsu and the angels are on and summon Vespa." The long-haired girl told them. They still had to try, even if they came up empty-handed. It would be better than simply giving up and the Red Witch wouldn't be happy if they did.

"Why not ask the angels?" Ko decided to bring up a topic that no one else had suggested. "I mean, they know everything."

"Yeah but will they be able to tell us?" Keiji asked. That was the flaw of Ko's plans. Due to the fact that they did know things like that, they were placed under strict rules that didn't allow them to divulge certain things that would alter fate in any way.

In a way, Keiji thought that it would be far too painful to ask them if they couldn't help. He saw how Hiroshima acted to letting Azmy decide for herself whether she should live or die and he didn't want that to happen again.

Granted, this task was not that monumental but he would take no chances.

"Are they really that restricted?" Chichiri knew that they had their limitations, but surely they could tell someone the location of a rare item.

"I don't know," the green-haired one replied. "It just seems like it's troubling to ask them."

"Why would you think that?" Undine's eyes shifted to the boy. She had a different view one what the angels were there for.

"Huh?" Keiji looked to her in question.

"Angels are supposed to help us. Everyone is said to have two guardian angels- one light and one dark. Both angels are under you and grant your desires when you need them to be granted. If they can save you, then they sacrifice pieces of themselves so that you can be happy. They don't ask you for a thank you or anything. In that respect, they are very selfless. They try to cause the least trouble to you because they are helping you, so I'm sure that they'd tell us if they could," the girl's explanation brought up something that Hiroshima had once said and things that he had done to back up her beliefs.

'I don't want to cause you any more trouble.' The angel had told him this when he was converting on the battlefields of Fife's homeland. He had also sacrificed his wings to save him from Elf Kaizer, caught him when he nearly jumped to his death in Serenande's castle and prayed against Ceres' attack to save everyone from getting killed.

'Are all angels…truly supposed to help someone?' The angel that had slain his parents didn't seem to fit in this category and sorrow clung to his eyes like a disease as he looked at the water that sloshed around his body and thought for a few minutes before a surprised expression lit up his face. 'Wait! Guardian angels…Is that what he-'

"Well, come on Keiji," Chichiri's sentence cut through his thoughts and snapped him out of her current train of logic. The boy nodded and swam off after everyone as they continued to look for the shell.

XxXxXx

A flat, smooth stone skipped seven times across the surface of the sea before it was overpowered by the water and enveloped into the murky substance. The vampire king sat on the rock that Tsurugi had once inhabited and propped his chin up with his hand and sighed.

"Hem…"

"I hope they can find Marchois. They really are rare," Manami spoke, worried for their safety under the sea as she broke the silence.

"We can always ask around. Besides, we have two angels with us," the blue-haired vampire gesture to Hiroshima and Tsurugi, who were asleep on the ground. Hiroshima laid on his side, using his bent arm as a pillow as his brilliant wings lay sunbathing behind him. Tsurugi, on the other hand, lay peacefully on his back with his arms laying loosely over his stomach. A single bead of sweat ran down the young vampires head as he waved in dismissal. "Don't mind them. They are very tired. We just got out of a warring country.

"Was it very cold there?" The black-haired girl gestured to their current state of dress.

"Yes, it was," Fife answered.

"That's why your clothes are so warm-looking. I was wonder why his trench coat was line with white fur," the girl pointed to Hiroshima, who was clad in the said garment.

"Well, that one his body temperature is ten degrees cooler than ours," Fife noted that the angel always seemed to be cold in some way.

"I've never seen angels before," the girl noted. "They are very beautiful."

"They definitely aren't what most people think. I've learned a lot from them," the vampire told her as he smiled softly at the slumbering beings.

"You have fangs. Are you a vampire?" Manami had noticed it when he was talking to her and as far-fetched as the idea seemed to her, she had to ask out of curiosity.

"Oh yes, I'm King of Sumeria, otherwise known as Vampire Country," the effeminate vampire placed a hand over his chest, indicating an introduction.

"I am royalty too," the girl seemed happy to see someone else who had something in common with herself. "I'm married to the King of the prestigious Nagata Clan, King Thanatos. He's the grumpy-acting naga who went with your friends to search for Marchois."

Just as she had finished her sentence, Thelios surfaced near the island. "I can't find it. Are there even any more around anymore?" The young male naga asked, nearly in defeat. He had searched for hours and still his search came up blank.

"It's okay, at least you tried," Manami was sort of upset that the young prince wasn't able to come up with anything on the matter either. This was definitely no easy task.

Awiti then surfaced, the cool waters of the sea rolled off of her dark blue body and snow-white hair as she sighed to herself, an obvious sign that she too, came up empty handed. "There is no sign of it in my area either. I even used the powers in my eye to gaze through the seas and I can't find it." Even with a psychic power that allowed her to see far beyond the depths of the ocean for miles, the female naga had not seen it and she too, was beginning to be convinced that she wasn't going to find what these strangers were looking for.

"Hey, King Fife-" Zangetsu started to address but Fife cut him off, waving a finger in a 'tsk tsk' kind of way.

"Ah-ah!" He sing-songed, before teasing the black-haired man. "My name to you, is Fife. Just Fife. No king."

"Fife, then. Can you sense magical sources?" Zangetsu continued after he was corrected on the issue.

"Not in such a wide area. I'd need a region. Besides, some objects have specific auras that will not allow them to be detected under normal circumstances. Those items seem normal to even the most skilled magician's eye. I can't even sense the Crimson Blade, from here it looks just like a well-crafted, yet normal sword and that is its intention. This may be the same for Marchois," Fife explained.

"All we can do is hope that they find it," Manami told them and even though her words were full of hope, her heart didn't seem to share the same emotions. Secretly, she worried if they would find it or not but hoped and wished that they would.

XxXxXx

The group swam above what looked like a deep chasm in the sea. The hole was massive and covered several acres as the small group of swimmers looked down into it, they could only see the pitch black abyss. They lowered themselves slowly into the hole, not really knowing what to expect.

Suddenly, a glint of light caught Keiji's interest. 'Is that it?' He thought as he motioned with his hand for the others to come over his direction. Ko followed him to the source of the glint as Eclipse watched high above as they made their way to the shining object.

'They seem to have found Marchois for me.' The black-clad woman thought as she carefully watched them with one eye. 'Now it will be twice as easy to get it back. Without the angels around, it's an easy grab from these kids.'

Thanatos swam towards the two as they inched closer to the object. 'What the hell are those two doing over there? Don't they know a large fish lives there that can swallow them whole without even thinking?' The naga king them looked unamsued. 'I suppose they want me to rescue them, as always. I don't know why or how I got roped into this.'

It was truly beautiful and its surface was like a mirror that reflected every distinct characteristic of the boy's face as he peered into the metallic surface and smiled. 'It's Marchois! We've found it!'

Ko swam up and grabbed the edges of the shell and pulled. It had been wedged between two large stones that lined the walls of the chasm. She pulled back with all of her might several times as the girl tried to free the shell but to no avail. It was stuck in the wall good.

'It won't budge!' The white-haired girl thought to herself as she and Keiji both decided to try and pull it out together.

Thanatos soon reached them and his face lit up with amazement. "Holy hell, you found one of those things…and here I thought they were extinct. Let me help you out." The naga king offered his hand as he too, began to pull on the shell.

Behind them, a large fish that closely resembled a barracuda rose up from the darkness below and watched them with hungry eyes, ready to engulf it's innocent prey. Soon, they had managed to free the shell with a harsh jerk and all three of them sailed back through the water, striking the smooth surface of the fish. They glanced behind them, wondering what they had hit as the fish opened its mouth menacingly, promising their death if they didn't do something to move. Thanatos held the shell to his chest in a feminine fashion as the three of them freaked out and attempted to swim off as quickly as they could as the fishes' mouth snapped shut, releasing powerful water pressure that flung them forward as they tumbled through the water.

Thanatos managed to catch himself on a nearby rock as he looked back with a shocked expression. "We've got to get the hell out of here!" He exclaimed as he pushed himself off of the rock before the fishes' sharp teeth pierced it. He swam ahead for a few feet and looked back to see if anyone had been following him. Ko swam through a hole in the coral reef she had been investigating, hoping that the fish would get stuck, but it simply bit through and snapped the reef as she barely escaped it's powerful jaws.

"Damn it…I can't just go ahead, even if I have this," he looked at the Marchois that glittered in his arms.

The fish tried to snap down on Ko once more but Keiji pulled a knife out of his swimming trunks and decided to enable her to get farther away. He looked at the flashing piece of metal in his hands and thought. 'I was saving this but I've got to use it. Maybe it will slow it down enough for us to get back to the others.'

Keiji swam forward and plunged the knife into the fishes' side, just behind it's gills, causing the large animal to thrash around in pain. The boy tried to swim away as quickly as he could but the fish caught him before he could get too far, trapping his ankle between its lips. Shock and horror crossed the boy's face as Ko swam up to Thanatos and they both began to head off, assuming that he was close behind them.

'Oh no! They probably think I'm following them and I can't yell for help. I'm going to drown down here.' The frightened boy glanced to his leg, where his blood began to flow out like a red haze into the water. He closed on eye in pain as the fishes' teeth ground against his ankle in excruciating pain. 'It hurts…'

Keiji knew that this was a do or die situation. He turned around and started to frantically punch the fish in the nose as hard as he could in hopes that his leg would be released. 'I've got to fight back!' As he punched and punched, the fish gradually became irritated and decided to shake him around a little to beat some of the energy out of him. Keiji closed his eyes as he was slung through the water like a useless rag doll. Then the fish opened its mouth to bite down harder and the boy saw a means to escape. If he didn't pull out now, his ankle would be either snapped in two of completely taken off. If that happened, he would surely die. He pulled away quickly as a trail of blood followed him in the water. The salt from the sea stung his wound, but he ignored it. Keiji knew that if he didn't get to the surface, then he would surely die.

Green eyes glanced behind him to see the fish following him. Shit! It's following the blood. I've got to hurry and surface but I can't lead it to the others.' Quickly, he glanced around and saw a small group of islands that were barely big enough to lie on, but they would have to do. 'I've got it.'

He surfaced as quickly as he could and pulled himself onto the island, only big enough for two people to lie and pulled himself onto it in a hurry, ignoring the searing pain in his ankle as he sat with one knee up and his bleeding ankle laying out straight. His blood oozed onto the pale green grass as he panted and rested his forehead on his forearm, which he had laid across his knee.

After a few moments of catching his breath, he looked at the extent of the damage done to his ankle. 'Damn…I can't get back into the water. Something will eat me for sure. What do I do now?'

Chichiri and Undine surfaced beside of the island that Keiji rested on, as well as Adonis, who had met up with them in their search for Marchois.

"We found you," Undine stated, happy to have met up with another person involved in the search.

"What happened to your leg?" Chichiri pointed to the wound, which surrounded his entire ankle and looked deep enough to be to the bone.

"It seems like he was attacked by a large fish of some sort," Adonis stated as he swam closely to the edge of the island and examined the wound. "I have my weapon with me so it would be no problem."

"We can actually all head back anyway," Keiji told them not to worry about bringing him along. "Ko and King Thanatos have the Marchois. I was with them when they found it. A giant fish attacked us and it got me by the leg. I led it away from them and decided to stay here until someone found me. I knew that if I got into the water that it would try to get me again, since it had already tasted my blood."

"I have a spear and I can kill it now if it dares to try," Adonis had been used to fighting off such animals of the sea. "You're safe with us."

"Come on, let's go back," Undine told him. They were happy that their search for the Marchois was now over, and that they came out with little injury. She hoped that Ko and Thanatos made it back to the island alright.

XxXx

In a different part of the sea, Ko and Thanatos both surfaced and looked around for their third party. Neither one of them saw Keiji at all.

"Huh?" Worry reflected in the girl's blue eyes as she found no trace of her team mate.

"Where is that green-haired kid?" Thanatos asked.

"I thought that he was right behind us," the white-haired girl saw someone surface a few feet away from them. From where they were, it was hard to tell the gender of the person or even the color of their hair. Assuming that it would be him, since they were all together, a smile lit up on Ko's face. "I wonder if that's him! Keiji? Keiji!" She shouted as he began to swim towards the figure. "Keiji is that you?"

"I'm not so sure about this," Thanatos crossed his arms with his eyes closed, suspicious that someone would appear so far away from them. Surely he would have seen them since he'd have to pass them in order to get in front of them. "That doesn't really look like the kid at all." When he opened his green eyes, he noticed that no one was listening to him and irritation crossed his face. He sighed. "I guess I should go over there and see." Thanatos then swam after the girl.

XxXxXx

On the island, Keiji sat between Hiroshima and Tsurugi, who were now awake and sitting cross-legged on either side of him and Fife, who sat beside of his legs in a tea sitting position as he examined his leg to check for poisons and the depth of the laceration.

"So, Ko and the naga found the Marchois?" Hiroshima looked to the Keiji for clarification on the subject.

"Yes and they are bringing it here," Keiji told him the good news.

"Such beautiful blood…going to waste," Fife tried to calm himself, but the urge to drink the blood that was being wasted on the ground and the urge to comfort the hurting boy in some way overtook him and he found himself raising the boy's leg and licking the red essence from his leg.

The green-haired boy blushed. "That tickles."

"They need to hurry up. All of this water is making me nervous," Hiroshima turned his head from the two and looked across the sea. He knew that he still needed blood but he wasn't into claiming that dependency. It was nothing more than burdening to the group.

Fife was a different subject, since he was rightfully a vampire by blood and could not help such urges but he, by blood, was rightfully an angelic being. His blood had been converted, but he was still an angel nonetheless.

"I definitely agree. Angels of water we are not," Tsurugi smiled.

XxXxXx

Eclipse climbed onto an island and turned as she saw the two swimming up to her. Ko stopped a few feet away with a puzzled look on her face.

"That isn't Keiji. Who is that woman?" She didn't truly expect an answer.

"I don't know…but come to think of it, I have seen her earlier," Thanatos remembered her diving into the water and removing a black cape.

"What?"

"She came here shortly before you did," the naga king educated as the woman's voice interrupted their conversation.

"I am Eclipse and I have one thing to ask of you. Hand over the Marchois," the woman's look was serious as she held out her hand. Either they would give her the shell, or it would be forcibly removed.

The choice was theirs.

…To Be Continued