Chapter 34: Never. Again.
Nami flicked her tail rapidly in a sprint, catching her lover gently in her arms. Though her clear blue tears mixed indistinguishably with the surrounding sea, the star-struck maiden continued to weep and breathe heavily.
An anguished scream filled the air, and Nami cradled the Doom Monkey softly from side to side.
"Let him go!" Jason yelled in a fit of rage. "STOP!"
Pushing heavily with both arms, he swam to intercept the rose-colored mermaid but stopped at the edge of the prism's wall. The mermaid assassin ignored the hate reader's request and with a second strong swish of her tail, vanished in a flash of pink and blue.
Jason felt the emotion drain from his face as he stared helplessly in despair at the fresh trail of bubbles.
"Don't worry, Big Brother," Eve stammered incredulously, her confidence running low. "I-I think she'll take care of him, not hurt him, right?."
She doggy paddled slowly over to Jason with a feeble smile plastered on her face.
"Let's hope that's the case, Eve," the hate reader murmured under his breath. "You never really know with these crazy exes. They'll do anything for revenge."
He paused and stroked his chin with his uninjured hand, deep in thought.
"How about we resurface first and then figure out what to do?"
"Okasafujoaisjfoiajq," the silver-haired vampire gurgled in response.
As the gibberish slowly escaped from her mouth and the saltwater rushed in, the prism of water collapsed from all sides. Gallons of dark, murky water poured from the left, and right, enveloping the royal vampires in the ferocious Tritonean sea.
Jason instinctively swallowed a mouthful of blackened water and shut his mouth tight as he swam to his sister's side.
The roaring of the mysterious sea had frightened the young vampire and caused her to flail in an act of self-defense. Her eyes opened wide with panic, and she quickly understood that she could no longer breathe or speak. The oxygen left her body like an insidious decay, and she clutched her stomach with a reddening face.
Shaking her out of her daze, Jason grabbed Eve's arm with his uninjured hand and pointed roughly toward the sky with his other. He kicked with all his might, fluttering his legs at the speed of an Olympian.
'Air,' he thought to himself. 'I need air.'
His legs wriggled in panic, and his face turned a bright purple as he continually kicked through the never-ending sea.
'Shit, how deep are we?' the hate reader pondered to himself. 'No. Shut up, Jason. It doesn't matter. We need to survive. Eve, Karl, and I."
He stroked with his injured arm and pushed with his legs until the consciousness slowly faded from his mind.
"I need to see my parents again...and Alea. I will never let one of my friends go again."
The sea's groan deafened the hate reader's ears as his arm went limp. He closed his eyes and slowly loosened his grip from Eve's arm, causing the passed out vampire to dangle and slip from his grasp.
Ding!
Hate Counter: 505
Not even a second had passed, and the black-haired teenager bit the bottom of his lip. Stabbing his canine into the inner portion of his mouth, he forced himself awake and scanned the dim waters.
'Oh, my arm is healed,' he thought to himself in a daze.
He ripped the bottom seam of his pant leg and swam in a frenzy toward the falling girl. He re-tightened his grip on her arm as the blood rolled from his mouth. As her fingers brushed against his, Jason swiftly knotted her arm to his with the cloth.
"Never again," he repeated like a mantra. "Never again will I back down to another."
He kicked with fury and cursed with passion, shifting in and out of consciousness with the tide.
"Shit! Why didn't I just chase after her? Maybe I could've stopped Karl. Why was I so afraid of dyin—"
Ding!
Hate Counter: 504
Immediately, the black-haired vampire squeezed his forearm tight and clenched the arm of his sinking sister once more.
"I will not let you go!" he screamed internally as minutes of ascent and descent passed for two royal vampires. Notifications rang loudly in his ear, but Jason never stopped repeating his mantra.
"Never."
Ding! Ding!
Hate Counter: 503
Hate Counter: 502
"Again."
Ding! Ding!
Hate Counter: 501
Hate Counter: 500
A ray of light peered through the cracks of the sea as Jason's eyes fluttered back to life for the sixth time. With a final sprint, he gripped onto the young girl beside him for dear life and pushed with all his might toward the surface.
At long last, the hate reader popped his head out of the sea and gasped heavily for air, his choppy breath interrupted by coughs of water.
"Bwaaah."
He spat the salt water from his mouth and slowly dragged the silver-haired vampire toward the surface, pinching her gently on the cheeks.
"Hey, Eve!" he shouted anxiously. "Eve, are you okay?!?"
With an exasperated grunt, he flipped Eve upside down and grabbed her by the legs. As he tread laboriously on the water, keeping his waist above sea level, he violently shook the little girl until a delicate cough entered his ear.
"EVE! You're okay, right?"
A stream of sea water gushed from her mouth, in rhythm with the loud crash of a wave not far away. She rolled her eyes awake and trembled as her head shook violently.
"B-Big Brother?" Eve cried meekly, raising her arms to stabilize herself.
"Yes, Eve?" he said as he furiously shook his little sister. "No worries, I got it. I'll shake all the water out."
A second wave of content came spilling forth, but this time, colored with a brilliant mixture of forest green and dark brown.
"No, stop," she replied weakly as last night's dinner floated around them. "You're making me nauseous. P-please let me down."
Jason paddled away from the "debris" and plopped Eve gently into the sea. Grabbing her arms upright, he pulled her back toward the surface and asked with a faint smile, "Better now?"
"Yeah," she replied, pressing the temples of her head to combat the nausea.
"But what do we do about Karl?" she added.
Immediately, Jason's eyes flickered a shade of violet as a strong killing intent submerged the young vampire beside him. A chilling glare spread on her brother's face, and a shiver ran down her spine.
"You're not thinking of fighting your way through, are you?" she questioned shyly, hugging the black-haired teenager from behind. "Please don't do anything rash. You saw how outclassed we were under water."
"W-We can lure them to the shore and recover Karl from there?"
Jason shrugged his shoulders and spun violently, knocking Eve from his back.
"Never again," he muttered repeatedly under his breath. "Never again."
Staring at the dark grey clouds above, the hate reader angled his vengeful gaze straight through the goddess's heart and roared with pride.
"I will not allow you or anybody else to stomp over my friends again. Just you watch."
"Huh? Who are you talking to, Big Brother?"
But her answer was cut off by the sound of a beautiful song echoing across the expanse.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone