#stella (mogeko) | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

kandyrezi · 6 years ago

Text

nothing but a heartache;

fandom: wadanohara and the great blue sea

characters/pairings: tsuribari/stella

summary: “tsuribari wondered why his chest ached painfully everytime he thought of or looked at the pretty yet sullen starfish girl.” | word count: 2.9k

warnings: mentions of death and drowning.

from a prompt: muse feels a sharp pain in their chest every time they think of their lover (or someone/thing they love)

///

tsuribari has held great distaste for a lot of things the more time that he’s been forced spend around the various people and the sea creatures who aimlessly floated around him, sprouting nothing but nonsense - as if they were mocking him. the annoying noisy places that surrounded him, no matter where he was, the buzzing at the back of his head never seemed to cease. how thickheaded everyone could be, how no one took his words seriously or dismissed him as some insignificant being, how no one appreciated a bit of silence every now and then - or better yet, just not talk at all, sew their mouths shut if he could.

(annoyances. annoyances. annoyances. nothing but.)

he chooses to sit in one of the more secluded areas of the red sea, the wooden building firm against his back as rotting seaweed grew from the sandy ground and engulfed the corners of the decaying white building, until it would inevitably vanish completely and leave nothing behind after a decennial or so. just like everything else in this sea.

stella gently leans her head against his shoulder whilst holding her knees close to her chest, wrapping her arms around her ankles. he notices her occasionally peering at the text inside the book he was reading to her (of two children kidnapped by a cannibalistic witch living in a house constructed of cookies, sweets, and other confectionery), otherwise keeping her gaze on her feet, or away from him, at the very least as to not bother him too much. whilst normally not being too keen on physical contact - even if he barely feels anything - he’d made an exception for one person.

the only one, really, he thinks.

“bookworm, bookworm, i finally get the pun, mwhee-hee! why do you always have your nose stuck in a book, worm?”

tsuribari stops reading out-loud mid-sentence, gaze hardening and fingertips gripping the edges of the cover a bit too harshly. of course sheep, of everyone, had to come taunt him and disturb the peace, yet nothing he’s not used to already. the starfish girl next to him fortunately doesn’t appear deterred in the slightest at the intrusion and continues making herself comfortable against him. the blond boy can only sigh, lowering the book only ever so slightly, barely giving them a glance.

“could you leave? you’re distracting me.”

he thinks they try too hard, no childish insult could aggravate him more than he already was at everything.

well, just about everything.

- : - : - : - : - : -

as long as he could remember, the pretty starfish - equally as apparitional and so unfeeling - girl had been alongside him, ever since when he drowned in the blue-coated sea and she’d been the first to find him. he remembered it vividly. he hated the memory, yet refused to let go of it. he’d woken up in an unknown place, everything had been swimming in front of him, both figuratively and in a very literal sense. a place so unlike of where he had never been to previously.

he could only deduce the fact he was indeed underwater, bleak and cold, something painful piercing through his head that kept him from moving on his own. there was blood in the corners of his vision, small indefinite amounts of it falling in front of him, then immediately merging with the water as it faded into minuscule drops off into the distance – upon letting his fingers graze across his scalp, brushing against something smooth and metallic that was merged with his skin, blood oozing around it as his fingers became coated in it. he flinched from the pain, his breathing felt odd and uneven – he could still breathe, but just barely.

as he began to wiggle his way around, something had moved in the distance, towards him, closer. he saw the tail slowly moving back and forth behind the sea creature, taunting its presence. his uneven breathing grew worse and his lungs felt on fire, he tried to run away, move in any way, but his feet would not allow him to. the figure in the distant grew, the nearer it swam towards him. seaweed tangled around his thighs, keeping him in place even tighter.

the blood flowing from his forehead was no doubt fresh bait for the hungry fish. the young worm boy’s panicking only grew worse at the realization, what he could only imagine being either due to lack of air or extreme anxiety caused by shock, causing him to subconsciously close his eyes and pass out.

(fear.)

it had been quiet when his eyelids slowly opened and he woke again. staring up into the beaming sunlight bathing in the tides of the sea from up above, as the blurred objects merged into a clear image, he realized he was in an entirely different area. coral plants in magenta and leaves bigger than him from earthly-colored plants circled around him as he tried to properly inspect his surroundings while groggily sitting up. still underwater unfortunately, he dully noted. there was now solid ground underneath his feet, rather rocky and not very comfortable to lay on, he decided as he rose onto his knees.

whilst inspecting, he saw that he wasn’t entirely on his own anymore, when he looked at a girl young as himself, in brunette twin-tails held in place with golden starfish and a purple uniform with a skirt, staring back at him. in wonder, perhaps, much like himself.

he sunk his fingers into his knees to stop them from shaking relentlessly. dark irises trailed back and forth, unsure what to focus his attention on with a million inquires running through his head.

“w-who are you?”

the young girl looked away timidly, instead choosing to fiddle with the hem of her skirt for a little while.

when she finally introduced herself as ‘stella’, she spoke so quietly, he tried to tune out the hammering of his heart beating against his chest, instead trying to focus on the sound of her voice. the starfish girl still refused to meet his eyes, not quite sure if she should say anything else.

it was silent between the two for about a minute.

“i took you to a safe place… away from… them.”

her voice was hoarse when she tried to speak at first, like she’s not used to doing so for long periods of time.

his fear subdued when she did though, if only by a little bit. the heart in his chest was still beating rapidly and unevenly (feeling a slight tinge of discomfort, but he felt grateful to be alive, nonetheless). he tried to reach his hand on atop of his forehead. a smooth, metallic item was still impaled through his skull and blood was still leaking from around it, though not as severely as before. thinking about it like that made him grimace, nearly becoming woozy.

after only a moment of hesitation, did he finally decide to give her his own name.

“i’m... tsuribari.”

a couple more minutes passed by in silence, only the sounds of underwater plants swaying left and right, leaves brushing against one another ringing in his ears.

“...i’ve been alone for... a while.” stella explained, though not offering much insight.

but tsuribari thought there wasn’t much of a need to. despite having preferred to spend most of his time in solitude, he knew what made others tick when he learned to observe them from afar.

“i don’t know how i got here... either.” he responded with a worry of his own.

abandoned. just like him.

he had a feeling he wouldn’t be returning home anytime soon. wherever home was anymore and if it even existed.

“...i’m scared.” tsuribari confessed with a slight quiver in his voice.

she didn’t know how to respond. comfort was a foreign concept to the starfish. stella did the only thing she could think of and slowly extended her hand towards his own, gently brushing against his fingers and grasped them, intertwining them together. his nerves had calmed down by then as he allowed her to hold his hand, no longer did he feel the suffocating agony of his throat being tightened from fright. at least he had something - or someone - to confide in.

she almost understood him the same way that he did, expressing her distress and gloom with no needed words, her solemn expression and gestures spoke for themselves.

(fear. reluctant acceptance.)

fingers intertwined as they wandered, stepping on the glistening roads made of rocks, keeping the other from falling down and bonding over the mutual feeling of being thrown away and discarded. he took in the waves of the sea now that the threat of being eaten alive wasn’t looming over him. the waves did seem to get harsher the longer they spent time out there. on land, it would have reminded him of an incoming storm (he held her hand a little tighter, just to be secure). it was a fairly secluded area where nobody would wander to without a reason.

there wasn’t a single fish in sight, other than the occasional whale shark or some other potential predator, when stella had made sure to pull the both of them out of its sight, behind a boulder of rocks big as themselves for cover.

stella told him of the war between the daughters of the sea king for their rightful place as the throne’s next princess, and tsuribari listened with intent. one of them, princess mikotsu, was on the verge of losing and it was only a question of time when the sea would split between the two sisters.

“that... seems unfair.”

stella hummed, in quiet agreement, the boy assumed.

“where will you be going, then?” he decided to ask.

“...the rightful princess.”

tsuribari could only assume that he would have to make his own judgment when the time came for it.

stella appeared just a little less taciturn when talking about something else besides herself, so tsuribari thought of asking her to tell more stories of the kingdom and its residents (a culture he hadn’t even been aware of back on land), and if they were heading somewhere at all.

they came to a sudden halt when - with hardly any warning signs - tsuribari’s legs gave out from underneath him, causing him to collapse and letting his hand slip from her own. his heart was beating rapidly once again, whereas before it was discomforting at worst, this time it felt as if his chest was going to burst at any second. panic welled up inside of him again, not understanding what was wrong with him.

dying. he was dying slowly, agonizing with the pain he was in, he came to the realization as tears threatened to prickle at the corners of his eyes.

blood seeped across his face from the wound of the hook stuck in his forehead, gradually beginning to pool around his eyes, which he could barely keep open. he saw stella kneeling by him, holding onto the sleeves of his shirt, trying to stop him from writhing and shaking.

the waves of the sea still hadn’t calmed down.

he felt cold. so very cold.

“i d-don’t want you to die. please… w-we’ll find help.” stella’s voice quivered. it was the most emotion he’d heard in her voice so far.

he just wished it’d been a different emotion.

(fear. reluctant acceptance. indifference. then...)

he felt his heart stop beating, one last time. it was painful, but he was glad she was the one he was looking at as the last thing before he’d passed out.

he didn’t need to be afraid.

- : - : - : - : - : -

“how cute, the two of you. if only old would let me lean against him, but he just gets mad everytime i touch him, mwheehee~” sheep grins.

tsuribari lifts the book again high enough on purpose to block his vision from the ammonite.

“redirect your infatuation problems towards someone who actually cares.”

it seems to work, when he hears them humming slightly and finally leaving, but not before throwing some more remarks his way.

“how stingy. i won’t interrupt the young lovers’ alone time then~”

he doesn’t much (not in the slightest) like their mocking tone of voice as they said it.

tsuribari sighs quietly.

it’s tranquil again for the time being, as much as it could be in the sea, just between him and his companion. not a lot has changed between the two of them, he thinks, with the exception stella has been noticeably more quiet than before in the blue sea, even towards him. he didn’t mind it however, those types of people were indeed rare. even if her solemn expressions and gestures meant little else to most others, he could read them like a book, her hatred and contempt for this world, much like--

much li--

--his train of thought is interrupted when he feels a weird jolt of pain go directly through where his beating heart is supposed to be. he flinches at the unexpected sting and shifted around a bit in discomfort.

as far he knows, he is supposed to be dead - to put bluntly - and not feel anything, as any corpse should not. maybe it were just some strange side effects that happened after a while of being deceased. it’s been somewhat of a long time, while he’s lost count of the years, he should still know. but he’s felt nothing but dullness all this time, so it would be strange now.

his mind momentarily wanders, and thinks about whether or not anyone else - particularly stella, the starfish still dozing off next to him - felt the same--

--and the same annoying heartache is there again, making him grimace. he places a hand on his chest. he could not even describe it, it felt like very regular pain, like a stomachache. unexpectedly harsh at first, lasting for mere moments then fading off.

“…what’s wrong?” stella asks tiredly after a long pause of silence. he must’ve been ‘acting’ so strange it even woke and drove her to speak. he was reading to her before, up until it seemed she wasn’t listening anymore and had dozed off.

- : - : - : - : - : -

when he had woken up again, there wasn’t anymore pain in his chest.

it was dark, echoing sounds of howling in the distance. he tried to adjust his vision to see what was supposed to be in front of him, though it didn’t seem to accomplish much. only an odd, unprecedented sight continued to stare back. whereas before the gentle radiance of sunlight had gleamed upon him, he couldn’t spot anything remotely resembling something that would be classed as natural light and the blue waves of the sea blending together.

red.

he saw the crimson-colored remains of what might have been the sea he was in previously. everything felt murkier. looking around, he almost began panicking again, when he spotted the familiar sight of his friend. his only friend.

in relief, he began pacing towards her - before stopping abruptly.

whereas before she seemed more timid and struck with grief, he saw something completely new mixed in this time around. lethargy. she seemed to not be bothered in the slightest by their situation.

he deciding to adjust and follow her lead.

even though stella hadn’t given him any particular description of the two potential heiresses of the throne, there was still something peculiar about the fish hovering in the distance, the familiar forlorn look of someone who had been discarded and thrown away - yet she was determined to not let that deter her, the air of excessive importance and bloodthirst for vengeance hung heavily around her.

her eye had been scratched out and the red-rimmed wilts under her eyes suggested she’d been crying heavily.

yet it was still the princess who had... saved him?

he frowned deeply at the fishhook still embedded inside his skull, a dull throbbing around his gaping wound still present. still.

was it really worth living the way he did though, he wondered briefly. would it have simply been better if he had died strung pathetically around that rope, his body being ripped apart by a shark with teeth sharper than a knife. would it have been better to have felt pain only for a few seconds, then passed away quietly, than to continue living in a way that felt like he was stuck between limbo and the afterlife. maybe then, the sea wouldn’t feel so cold, nor his skin so numb.

stella decided to quietly approach him herself, trying to reach and grasp his hand.

except he shook her off this time, instead choosing to look back with a dull, bored look at a new gaze standing in front of him.

he didn’t look whether or not that had hurt her at all. it didn’t matter at that point. he was the one who was hurting the most after all (aside from the princess maybe, from the looks of it).

a pair of ruby-red eyes belonging to a white shark, gazing at him with a knowing, sadistic smile.

(fear. reluctant acceptance. indifference. then antipathy.)

“welcome to the sea of death, little one.”

- : - : - : - : - : -

“…nothing. forget about it.” he says in a bored voice as usual - there’s a tinge of irritation in it than how he normally spoke. would it have been directed towards anybody else, they likely wouldn’t have noticed, but he wonders if stella did. choosing not to even look at her, as he gripped his shirt and tugged at it, hiding the torturous twinge at the center.

the boy tries to shut off his mind for now and focus on his book instead, as he turns away with his entire body, with his back now facing her, not bearing the burden of seeing her crestfallen expression. he doesn’t want to feel the same pain again that he did when he’d woken in the sea and died for the first time all those years ago.

why did he have to suffer, when the others deserved it so much more.

#mogeko #funamusea #watgbs #tsuribari (watgbs)#stella (watgbs)#tsuritella #okegom #dsp #deep-sea prisoner #oounabara to wadanohara #ficlets #tsuribari #stella #wadanohara #sea of death #this is one of my longer fics...#and yes it's also a rewrite of one of my older ones...#gif credit to bandeau on wattpad

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