Chapter 56: THIRD POV.

So she turned around, moving as quietly as a ghost, and swam off.

All these past few days had done nothing more than stress her out more and more.

She was exhausted. Every single plan she had made to protect her place had failed.

No matter what she tried, she couldn’t get anyone to hate her sister.

She had tried to remind people of the past, but the villagers were too kind. She had tried to compete, but Persephone was too good.

Rather, they only continued to like her more and more. Even Garin, her oldest friend, seemed to enjoy Persephone’s company more than hers now.

It was frustrating for Artria, but what more could she do but simply accept that perhaps Persephone was just that much better than her.

Maybe she really was just the "normal" sister who wasn’t meant for great things.

She continued to swim and swim, her tail moving steadily yet from a distance, her figure looked lonely and sad.

She left the village behind, passing through the periphery without anyone noticing her.

She didn’t have a destination in mind; she just wanted to be away from the house and the sight of them together.

Under the beautiful night-colored ocean, where the water was a deep, dark blue and the bioluminescent plants glowed like tiny lamps, she swam.

She swam until eventually, her muscles began to burn and she got tired.

In the end, she decided to find a spot to sit and rest.

On sitting down on a smooth, flat rock, a self-mocking smile emerged on her face when she realized where she was.

She looked around at the familiar shapes of shattered coral and the way the sand sloped down into a deep trench.

To think she’d returned to the coral reef upon which she’d met Jacob for the first time.

This was the very same place he’d first helped her catch the school of tuna, and the same place she’d helped snap him out of his bloodlust state.

At this point, Artria couldn’t hold back anymore. The silence of the reef and the memories of that first meeting were too much.

She clutched her tail, pulling her fin to her chest, and her chest started shaking.

She began to sob softly into the night. The sounds of her crying were lost in the vastness of the ocean, muffled by the water.

She felt small and weak, like that little girl again, holding a necklace made of ugly shells while everyone else looked at a pearl.

She cried for her parents, she cried for her lost peace, and she cried because she was terrified that Jacob was going to leave her for good, the same as everyone else.

The only ones bearing witness were the stars in the sky that she could see through the clear surface above, the water around her, and...

"Mind if I stay here as well?"

Artria stiffened when she heard a voice from behind. Her heart stopped for a second, and she froze, her breath catching in her throat.

Turning around with her still teary eyes, her heart skipped a beat when she saw it was none other than Jacob.

He was swimming slowly toward her, looking a bit tired but with a soft, concerned look on his face. He wasn’t with Persephone. He was here, in the middle of the night, looking for her.

Artria quickly tried to wipe her eyes with the back of her hand, but it was too late.

The tears were already there, and the redness in her eyes gave her away. She looked at him, her lips trembling.

" W-What are you doing here?" She said, her voice shaky and skeptical.

"Just wanted to check up on you since you haven’t been yourself lately," Jacob said, offering an awkward smile. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

He floated there in the quiet water of the reef, feeling the gentle push and pull of the current.

Seeing her out here all alone in the middle of the night made his heart sink.

The only reason he even came was because he had woken up and noticed her spot on the sea bed was cold, and he knew right away something was wrong.

"Looks like I was right," he added, wincing a bit as he saw how red her eyes were. She looked so small sitting on that rock, far from her usual confident self.

"Mind telling me what’s going on? You’re not usually like this."

Artria’s mouth parted momentarily, as if she wanted to say something. He could see the words forming, but she stopped the next moment.

She looked away, her blue hair floating like a cloud around her face, hiding her expression from me.

"It’s nothing... Really, you shouldn’t have bothered coming all the way out here," she said.

Her voice was flat, trying to sound tough, but her sniffling and the way she kept wiping the lingering tears off her face told him otherwise.

She was hurting, and she was trying to hide it, was this what she always did when things got hard?

How long has she been like this? The more he wondered, the more saddened I became.

What sort of person could bear to see their dear friend like this?

He let out a breath, feeling a bit of the tension leave my own chest. He didn’t want to push her too hard, but he couldn’t just leave her out here crying in the dark.

He moved closer, stretching out a hand to her. Jacob kept his palm open and his movements slow, so he wouldn’t startle her.

Since it was obvious he couldn’t force her to open up to him, he might as well try another way.

"W-What are you doing now?" she asked, her voice quivering a bit. she looked at his hand like it was some kind of strange object she had never seen before.

"Just want to show you something," he let out a breath, trying to look as trustworthy as possible.

He knew she was feeling pushed aside lately, he just didn’t think it’d hurt her this much.

He might not know what she’s feeling right now, but even he could tell that it must hurt to feel unneeded from time to time and he wanted to do something about it.

"I promise I won’t try anything else. I’m not going to bite you either, alright?" He joked a bit, trying to lighten the heavy mood.

Jacob gave her a little wink, hoping to see a spark of the old Artria.