Chapter 6

I turn my head around, my eyes are wide as I take in the identity of my new friend. Wish, or Clay is even prettier than I ever imagined. At last I can fully see his apparently green eyes, his lashes are long and thick, which brush against his freckled cheeks as he blinks.

His cheeks are full of his cute freckles which are now masked by his deep blush. Nervously he pushes his hair away from his eyes, they are so pretty, almost mesmerizing.

As he had told me earlier, his face is covered in scars. They litter his face, they're unkept and we don't have any proper medication, I make a note to get some in the central city. There's so many scars. Two in a criss-cross pattern over the bridge of his nose, some under his chin, one rather large one behind his left ear.

The only seriously concerning injury is a barely healed cut on his forehead. I caught a glimpse of it when Clay moved his hair, and he seems to have noticed my concern. The cut is bandaged badly, from lack of mirror or anybody to help.

Even with all the scars littering his face, he's very pretty. Most of the scars aren't that big, just shallow cuts dealt in combat, but the one on his forehead is deep, as if a blade was plunged into it, instead of just grazing the surface like the rest. Clay is still staring at the floor, I push his chin up to make his gaze meet mine. "Hi Clay, I'm George, thanks for saving me, it's nice to meet you too." I say. To lighten the mood I extend my hand in greeting, he takes it with a smile and I shake his hand over enthusiastically.

"So can we begin again?" Clay asks suddenly. "I've gone a while without a friend, and I want to have somebody to trust again." That must have been hard for him to do. Even now he's acting so self consciously, probably internally begging for his mask back. I return it to his hands, he smiles, like the smile on his mask.

"Of course." I say, watching him smile. "It'll take me some time, but it'd be nice to have a friend around." I tell him, watching him silently cheer. His smile is so bright and pretty. He flattens the petals of the peony that still rests on my head, this action brings our foreheads close together and I can see his messy wound up close.

"Can I have a look at that?" I ask him, my hands waiting until he gives permission to take off the bandages. The wound is messy and covered in dried blood and fresh blood. It was a deep cut caused by a sword, or a dagger. It's not deep enough to be a sword, so a dagger.

"Does this mean I can finally sort out the cut across your forehead too? You look so pale that you might end up fainting." Clay asks, his eyes flickering to my forehead, which beneath my hair he can probably see the badly tied bandage around it. "Maybe." I reply, immediately changing the conversation.

"How did you get all these scars?" I ask him, lightly brushing my fingers over the scars, examining them closely. Most of them were closed up, Clay must have got them a while ago. "My friend has a very experienced hunter, he was part of a gang, and they'd attack us night after night so I got a little injured fighting them off. My friend now hangs around in the central city with another group of people. Even his hunter isn't dumb enough to attack him now." He tells me.

He flinches suddenly as I accidentally brush my fingers over an open wound. "Sorry." I apologize quickly. "Your friend must have been lucky, don't know why he'd go to the city without you." I say. Clay cuts the conversation short, changing the subject. "The cut you're looking at is from your hunter." He tells me. "They dug the blade into my head."

"Sorry." I cringe, knowing that I'm the reason he has the injury. It must hurt, alot. "How are you even alive?" I breathe, pushing his hair away more to get a better look. "That looks fatal." I say, still examining the wound. Clay shrugs, searching through his supplies for something. He sighs angrily. "Do you have any gauze?" He asks, I shake my head. "None in my bag either." I sigh, "I'll go out to get some water from the river to clean it. It's not that far from here."

"I'm coming with you!" Clay says, attempting to stand, but he stumbles and I immediately help him sit back down. "You can't go outside idiot! Your wound is still open!" He pouts like a child, folding his arms. "Then you better be quick. And don't zone out." He huffs, pushing the barricade away for me.

"I will, don't worry." I say, opening my pack and retrieving two knives and a small axe, fastening them to my belt. I carefully step around the barricade and out of the hollow. The night is chilling, I wish I was wearing warmer clothes, that might be something worth looking into while I'm in the central city.

I'm barely able to see my compass, but I use the limited amount of light I have as I squint my eyes. The river isn't too far, it should be around here. I see it in the distance, but soon I don't see it, as I'm thrown to the ground.

"Why hello there target." A voice above me drawls. My supposed hunter is about Clay's age, maybe a bit older. He's confident, perhaps a bit sarcastic. It's hard to make anything out of him in the dark, his hair is cut weirdly, maybe it's my colorblindness, or the lack of light, but I think it's pink.

He laughs coldly, watching me struggle. "So they give me this-" He jabs his boot into my stomach. "As a target. I've hunted down and beat all the most skilled assassins and psychos, only to be dealt this as my own victim?" He laughs again.

I squirm some more, trying to reach one of my weapons. "Who the hell are you?" I blurt out in fear. He came out of nowhere, I had been ambushed, just like I had a few days ago. "Oh me?" He asks, pulling out his blade and holding it close to my throat. "I'm, actually you don't need to know my real name. I'm known as Athánatos, meaning immortal, because I never die, and I always win." Athánatos says. His blade is encrusted in jewels and looks very expensive, but judging by the blood on it, also very deadly.

"I'm also the leader of the elite assassins in the city." He brags, drawing a second sword. He jabs the blade at my arm. "The better question is who are you? And why did you come out here at night? Do you have a death wish!" He asks loudly. "Are you trying to die?"

I grit my teeth, writhing in pain as he digs to blade more into my arm. His other sword is at my throat, meaning if he wanted me dead he could kill me at any second. The leader of the elite assassins, of course. I've heard his name around, some people just say Thánatos, meaning death. Now I know his hair is pink, he's known for it.

The elite assassins are an assassination group based in the central city. They're paid a fortune by the rich to kidnap their targets so the rich can be safe. It's a steep price, but Thánatos has become rich off of it.

He's the best of the best, barely 21 and leading the most powerful group around. And he's been doing all these missions with the threat of his own hunter looming overhead, of course I'd be his target.

Why did I get dealt an experienced hunter?

Not only an experienced hunter, the most experienced hunter.

I wonder who had him as their target. They were doomed, so am I. He's Thánatos

You can't beat him, there's no hope for his hunter. There's no hope for me.

"This was far easier than I expected it to be." He drawls, slowly pushing both blades in. My screams fill the forest, but they slow as I lose more blood. The taste of my blood in my mouth is rich and metallic.

I'm going to pass out again.

I can't. If I pass out I'm dead. His arrogance is the only reason I'm still alive. He's too cocky, not afraid of anyone or thing, and one day that may be his downfall.

Then there's another yell, and it's not mine or Thánatos's. He hits the floor beside me. Which gives me time to pull out my own weapons. He gets up a few seconds later and his eyes widen as he looks around for his attacker who is out of view.

"Oh so you have one of them." He sneers. "I'll find you again and this time they won't be around. It'll be just me and you." He says, walking away.

Someone collapses at my side, pressing their sleeve against my neck, trying to stop the blood. My vision swims in and out of focus until I can finally barely make out Clay kneeling over me.

"George! Thank god you're okay! I knew this wasn't a good idea!" Clay says in a relieved tone. He looks off in the direction of Thánatos. Who's gone long into the distance.

"Athánatos." Clay snarls, narrowing his eyes in anger. "You know him?" I ask quietly. Clay nods, focusing back on me. "He's the reason my friend left. He approached my friend and made him an elite assassin." Clay tells me.

Oh. I think. That's what happened to his friend. He looks at the injury on my arm. "Mind if I carry you?" He asks, already preparing to do so. I nod. "I think you might have to." He picks me up and runs back to our temporary base, pushing the barrier up with his feet and putting me inside.

"Thanks for saving me life." I say. "Again." I add under my breath, ashamed that he had to save me twice in just a matter of a few days. Although this is Thánatos that we're talking about. It's a miracle that I'm still alive.

"You're welcome Sunshine." He replies. He pushes some things aside in the alcove for us. I notice he has a gauze pad on his forehead, meaning one of us has some in our bag anyway, meaning I got injured for nothing.

"What did you just call m-" My own screams cut me off. I writhe in pain as Clay presses his hoodie harder against my neck to stop the blood flow. "Try to stay still." He says. "It's a bad wound, and moving will only make it worse." He tells me.

I grit my teeth and try to not move or talk. It takes the last of my strength but I don't express how much pain I'm in. Thankfully Clay works quickly, and my wound is treated and covered in a few minutes. "Thanks." I mutter shyly, as Clay cleans the wound on my forehead as well. He has to move my hair aside to get to it, I hate that I love his touch. Maybe it's him, or maybe that I've had too little and it's been too long. Even the slightest touch if comforting to me.

"Again. You're welcome." He replies. "You don't need to keep thanking me, this is what friends do." He tells me. Friends. I finally have a friend again. And this time, it's somebody I can really trust.

I guess I have no choice but to trust him now.

Slowly I carefully sit up and wrap my arms around my new friend. It's such a strange feeling after so long, but something I would like to get used too. Clay gasps, quickly wrapping his own arms around me.

"Thanks George." He says, a wide smile on his face. "Now can you please go to sleep?" He asks me. I nod. "Only if you stay here with me though." I reply, my eyes heavy from exhaustion and blood loss.

"Of course, sunshine."