Citizen 798 Thalassa

When their best friend was attempting patricide probably did not seem like the best moment to confess their love to him. Yet, that was how things had played out, all the same.

         It had started out an ordinary enough morning. Thalassa had been staying at the little house in the woods they had first met their best friend at. He was supposed to meet up with them, but sometimes the letters were a bit off timewise.

         Still, Thalassa could not help but wait outside of the house. It might have been embarrassing that they were so eager to see their friend once again, but Thalassa cherished his visits.

         However, the armored persha rex that found his way into the clearing by the house where Thalassa waited was not his best friend, nor any rex that Thalassa had ever met. Yet, there was an odd familiarity to him.

         At first, Thalassa was not sure why, then realized it was the eyes. This rex had blue eyes, brighter than their friend’s, but similar enough that it gave Thalassa pause.

         “Hello,” they greeted, polite and warm in tone but somewhat startled. Not many found the way to this little house deep in the woods.

         While Thalassa’s greeting was warm, there was a glint to this rex’s blue gaze that was distinctly cold. It made Thalassa shiver and take a step back, instinctively wary to have such a gaze on them.

         “You’re a pretty one… My son has good taste. Such a shame to lose one as pretty as you, but… Sacrifices must be made,” the rex spoke, voice smooth. The voice was almost lyrical, but the words were more than unsettling. They were terrifying.

         Because Thalassa suddenly knew exactly who this rex was, their best friend’s estranged father. The only rexes they had ever heard speak fondly of this rex were this rex’s own brother and the cousin who had raised the two brothers.

         And even then, the latter’s fondness was interspersed with warnings. While his friend’s uncle was the one with sanguine red magic, his brother was known for his cruelty along with his pretty face.

         One of their first words to their best friend had been a compliment to his voice. It seemed their friend’s father had no less a charming tone, for all that the words compelled fear from Thalassa.

         They opened their mouth to say words, something, to ask for clarification, anything really.

         But they were cut off as the older rex suddenly pounced, easily pinning Thalassa to the ground. They had never even learned self defense, as much as their parents had wished them to.

         The father of their best friend had his teeth on the back of their neck, and they thought this truly was the end of them.

         “Any last words?” he inquired, and Thalassa could not speak, their thoughts consumed by the horror of this day which had so easily become a nightmare.

         Suddenly, they felt the weight above them shift, and they expected it to be their end. They were therefore startled when the weight was removed from them entirely.

         They glanced around, relieved for but a moment, until they saw what had interrupted the attempted murder. Or rather, whom.

         A new fear gripped their heart as they saw their best friend fighting his father. Apparently, their friend had barreled into him from the side and knocked him off.

         Watching this vicious fight, their heart raced, terrified of the possibility that their friend might lose. It had not yet occurred to them to be afraid of what happened if their friend won.

         Until it did, their friend standing posed to rip out his father’s own throat. “Any last words?” their friend inquired. His father did not beg, only sneered.

         It was so similar to the earlier scene that had played out, and Thalassa stepped forward, finding a new kind of terror. “Stop, please,” they begged on the behalf of their almost-murderer. “You’re better than this.”

         He looked a bit sad, their best friend, at what they said. “You know I’m not,” he replied simply, and he was clearly prepared to do this deed that could not be undone.

         The consequences of such an act would ripple outward, and Thalassa was scared of the rex that had almost murdered him, but he was more scared of the idea of his friend becoming that same cold being.

         “You’re better than him,” Thalassa tried a different approach.

         “I know,” their friend responded. He did not move. At the very least, he was willing to hear out Thalassa, even if he seemed to expect Thalassa to run out of arguments.

         “Please,” they repeated. “Let him go. He’s learned his lesson.”

         Their friend was quiet, unconvinced. And suddenly Thalassa knew what words they needed to say

         “…I love you. Please don’t make me wish I didn’t,” they said softly. “I can’t stop you if you really want to do this. And I won’t stop loving you no matter what. But please… Don’t become him.”

         And though their friend was quiet, he did carefully release his father who scrambled free and ran away, escaping from death at the jaws of his son.

         “You love me?” their best friend asked, his voice full of wonder.

         “I do. Even if you scare me sometimes with how you act towards others for my sake, I love you. I don’t think I could ever stop loving you,” Thalassa admitted.

         “But… I need some space, for now. Please… don’t do anything that…” They trail off, not sure how to end that sentence.

         “…I don’t want you to ever regret loving me. I don’t want to hurt you, ever. Emotionally included. I love you too, Thalassa,” he says softly.

         “I understand your need for space, I respect it. …I’m not sorry that I don’t regret what I almost did. But I am sorry I scared you,” he tells them.

         They smile sadly, and they go over to their best friend, their love, and hold him close. 

         Two murders were stopped today, and they are glad of it, glad to be alive, and most glad of all to have stopped their love from becoming a cold hearted killer.

         But their heart aches with the knowledge of how deep their love’s darkness goes. It was out of love for them, they know. Somehow, though, that only makes it worse for their tender heart.