Chapter Text
" That's it for today. Well done everyone."
Everyone bowed and bid their farewell to eachother and, to the head chef left behind. The chatters of his colleagues fade into a background noise for him as said man goes to check if all fuses are off, turning off the lights before exiting the kitchen.
The chain wrapping around the kitchen door handle clanked softly as Barbatos locks the padlock .
As he turns to make way to the restaurant exit, a tall, broad figure caught him by surprise.
" Barbatos! Haven't gone home yet?"
It's Diavolo. His boss and, his childhood best friend.
" Diavolo. No, not yet. I have to make sure if everything is as it's supposed to be first before making my way home."
" Ah, as dutiful as ever, Barbatos! "
The man laughs before his expression turns serious.
" Don't pretend to be clueless, Barbatos. I know how much you have been overworking yourself lately. Your eyebags tells me as much."
Barbatos sighs. His shoulders slump ever so slightly.
" How would i even pretend to be clueless when I really am not overworked..."
" Then you should get more rest. Listen to what your body is trying to tell you. Don't just brush off the fatigue.. "
" Also, since tomorrow is our day off, go get some fresh air, or do whatever is good for your health."
Diavolo sounds more like his dad than his boss now.. He smiles.
" Of course, of course. I'll make sure to do that."
Barbatos half expected his friend to smile brightly before changing the topic,
But Diavolo just stood there, studying him with what he could identify as worry in his gold eyes. The man sighs.
" No, I think a one day break isn't enough.. Two days would be just right, I suppose. So I'm giving you another day off on Saturday."
Oh, this was unexpected.
" What? No, no. I couldn't possibly take that. There's still so much to do. And- The VIP guests booked on that day-"
Diavolo shakes his head and raises one of his hands, " Nope, I wouldn't take that answer. You've done enough, Barbatos. I'll tell Marla to handle all of it. Now my orders for you is to rest. Okay?"
His mouth open, eyes widened, he pauses to think of every possible counterarguments to use against Diavolo but in the end, he just let out a long sigh, and relents. He knows there's no use trying to convince Diavolo when he's like this.
" Fine... Just, call me if you need any help." At his words Diavolo beams. Like, really beams. If someone were to ask Barbatos to describe him as an inanimate object, he would choose the beacon.
" Great! Be sure to maximise these two days!"
｡･:*˳˳.⋅ॱ˙˙ॱᐧ.˳˳.⋅
It's Friday morning, and the first thing Barbatos does after he gets up is to shower, and make breakfast. Today's menu is banana toast with greek yoghurt and blueberries. He's had this before. It's getting dull.
It's around 8.30 when he finished breakfast and went to clean the entire house right away. He scrubs his large bathroom, the kitchen countertops, vacuums the entire house, getting rid of some cobwebs hanging at the corners of his room, tending to his small garden and so on.
Familiar routines to which he used to really enjoy, but now it seems dull. Like it's just a routine he's programmed to do, and he does it not because he wants to or that he enjoys it, but because of some unknown string pulling him to do so.
It's now 11.30. Barbatos grabs his car keys and went out to his favourite grocery store. It's an 8 minutes drive, and once he got there the first thing he sees upon entering is the clearance sale aisle. If he were to close his eyes and guess what those items are, he would get every little thing right.
The customers here usually avoid their grapefruits, so there are many leftovers of those. And then the bread. They expire too soon but too much of them were put on sale, and there's a bakery that sells better bread just across the street, so the access ones goes to the rack, too. Same goes to oyster sauce, the horrible peanut snacks, the canned food...
It's boring. There's not even any new products that he sees while browsing for his items. Speaking about browsing, Barbatos could walk to the aisles of the items he's getting with his ears and eyes covered. He's been here for too long that he's confident he could actually do that. In other words, boring. It's getting boring.
The man walks up to an open counter and pays for his stuff. The one on shift, attending him right now is Krista. He's been working here for nearly 2 years.
After making sure he's got everything, Barbatos drives back home.
8 minutes passed.
He's home now. Barbatos sorts out the items he's bought and goes to brew tea. After it's done he sits next to his favourite window in his house. It's the tallest window and faces the right direction for the sunlight to filter through. He puts a cot there, and a little bookshelf nearby.
Barbatos scans through the small bookshelf, looking for the right one that fits his current mood. His fingers stopped at Fyodor Dostoevsky's 'Crime and Punishment.'
He's also read this book multiple times before.
He only reads halfway this time.
He snaps the book shut, flinging it onto the empty spot on the cot, and sighs.
He pinches his throbbing temples.
｡･:*˳˳.⋅ॱ˙˙ॱᐧ.˳˳.⋅
It's 9p.m.
The engine of his Mercedes whirrs quietly as Barbatos pulls over to the Dark Shore.
The Dark Shore.
Only a few number of people had visited this rocky beach, because of many reasons. You want to know what that is? I'll tell you.
One : Anyone who visits this beach would notice instantly that the colour of it's waters are off. It's darker, and not in the murky sense. But the most accurate way to describe it is that it's waters is almost completely pitch black.
Two : This beach has many large, sharp rocks littering across it's shore. Over the span of 3 years, 20 people have gone missing right after they said they wanted to go to the beach. And their disappearance has nothing to do with the sharp rocks.
Three : There have been many reports of strange creatures sighted at this particular beach. Two years ago, a teenage boy reported the sighting of 'a giant snake' slithering over the shore. A year ago, a woman reported that she heard maniacal laughter echoing from a cave on the shore. And just about a week ago, a fisherman snapped a picture of what appears to be a mermaid, perched on a rock. Except that, the mermaid seems to have a lot of sharp fins. And sharp talons.
Any sane person who hears all about the Dark Shore would avoid visiting it at all costs.
Then that must mean that perhaps, Barbatos is a little insane.
What everyone in the town fears, it's like a sacred tomb to him. And in a sense, it certainly is.
This man has an eccentric habit of coming to this particular beach, on every Friday night. He would often go into the open cave on the beach and simply sits there in silence for hours, letting the sound of crashing waves soothe the chaos in his soul.
The heavy crash of the waves are more than enough to crash the feeling of being trapped, the heavy feeling of unable to get his words out, the inability to bare his true heart to anyone.
And he's doing the exact same thing now. Eyes closed, body relaxing as the sounds of waves slowly lulls him into a state of tranquility.
As his mind relaxes, a mellow, almost melancholic hum perceives his ears. Green eyes blink wide open. Barbatos perceives the sweet melody, entranced by the beauty of it. Any relaxation he felt earlier vanished as the melody starts to fill his mind.
With wide eyes he stands up, and at first, his feet move slowly, walking towards an unknown direction. But with each steps his feet only moved faster.
Barbatos could almost feel his soul parting with his body and watches in horror as his body make it's way mindlessly towards an unknown direction.
Completely out of his control.
The sound of crashing waves fades into the back of his mind...
Barbatos could feel how the melody slowly fills his mind, making him think of nothing else but the sweet song. Lulling his conscience. Clouding his rationale. He has to find. Find the source of the beautiful melody.
The melody is getting louder and louder, as he gets closer, and closer towards it.
His body stops for a moment as a large rock blocked his path, only to make his way around it after and what he saw,
perched on a smaller rock a few metres away from him, is an outline of a creature like he's never seen before.
The creature has the torso of a man with smooth, melanin skin and it's lower body, is that of a fish.
It's probably the most beautiful creature he has ever laid eyes upon.
With it's magnificent blue tail and luminescent scales swishing languidly in the waters and its long, wavy brown hair gently flowing in the ocean breeze, the creature is looking up at the full moon, singing the same melody Barbatos heard earlier.
The melody that has his mind under arrest, with it's host unknowing that he is under some sort of spell that could kill him.
It doesn't matter. Because all there is in the chef's mind is the obsession and determination to get closer to the being, uncaring of the turbulent waves and deep water.
The only important thing is to get closer to the beautiful creature. Whatever it takes.
Eyes unfocused and mind hazy, he scrambles to the direction of the creature, waters splashing at the height of his knees, but as he takes another step further, and further, the water level soon rises to his chest.
He still continues walking, hands grasping for something that is still quite out of his reach.
Now the waters are the same level as his chin.
His legs no longer touch the sands.
The salty water starts to make its way into his mouth, filling his lungs with water, slowly but surely suffocating him.
His body is desperately trying to float itself now, splashing water all over loudly, loud enough to make the creature stop singing and turn it's head curiously towards Barbatos' direction.
It seemed to pause for a moment, perhaps not understanding what It's seeing, but when the situation finally registered in it's brain, it's blue eyes widen in alarm, watching the human that is swimming determinedly towards it, his hands reaching out to grasp him, slowly drowning.
The last thing Barbatos saw is the image of the creature jumping into the waves with an alarmed look on his face, and swimming quickly towards his direction.
And the last thing Barbatos feel, is a pair of cold arms pulling him close.
｡･:*˳˳.⋅ॱ˙˙ॱᐧ.˳˳.⋅
To be continued.. .
p/s: try listening to this song while reading the last part ;)
https://open.spotify.com/track/3AZ93bYc22iuXKOqO8ueO9?si=xCUmRlj_QVOoxgPyHHjHDw