The Dancing Teardrop

Will opened his eyes and frowned. He was currently in a forest of some sort on the edge of a beautiful beach. Something about his chest seemed off, as if a heavy weight had been placed on it. A small slit had been cut in his clothes right where his heart would be where a large pale scar had taken its place.

"Be careful. Don't move around too much. You are still healing."

Will twitched and immediately snapped his head towards the source of the voice. ".... hello little spirit. We meet again."

The little spirit let out a snort. "I've been looking after you all this time."

Will let out a small smile. "So I guess that means I'm still alive?"

"If you were dead then you wouldn't be able to talk to me like this."

Will let out a chuckle. "I guess you do have a point."

After a short moment of silence, Will asked the spirit another question. "Was I not executed by my father? Based off of the scar above my heart, I can see that he did not miss. If so, how am I still alive?"

The spirit let out a smirk of pride. "How could a water spirit like myself live if I let my contractor die the moment we established a contract? Especially my first. I would've been shamed wherever I go."

Will raised an eyebrow. "I don't recall making a contract with you though?"

The spirit tilted her head. "I asked if you wanted to live and you replied with 'I wanna be free'. Is that not accepting my contract?"

Will let out a laugh. "I guess you could say that I'm free. Anyways, how did you prevent me from dying?"

The little spirit let out a smug smile. "Whenever a spirit makes a contract they are allowed to borrow the power of their respective goddess without limits once. Thus, using the powers of the water goddess, I recreated- no, filled the wounded parts of your body with sacred water."

Will frowned. "Are you saying that you sealed the holes and cuts in my chest with water? How does that even work?"

"Ummm.... The water goddess's sacred water is unable to be easily tainted by blood or any other pollutants. Thus, your heart is able continue beating with a giant hole in it. Thus, the sacred water was able to take the place of your flesh until your body slowly regenerated it."

Will ever so slightly narrowed his eyes. "How did you fool my father? The executions of Maraire never end until the body is made sure to be dead."

"I used the goddess's powers to passively move the blood in your body for a few hours," exclaimed the little spirit with endless pride. "That would've reduced the need for your heart to beat and would make it as though you were a dead corpse for the first four hours. After about four hours, anyone would find it suspicious if your body wasn't getting cold."

The little water spirit sighed. "To be completely honest with you, you are incredibly lucky to be alive. If the other humans who watched you die didn't immediately send your body out into the sea, then I'm afraid that you would've died. If they didn't choose to stab your heart but behead you, I wouldn't have been able to do a thing. If your body didn't convert fast enough- I mean regenerated fast enough, I'm afraid that you would've died."

"How long did it take for me to heal?" asked Will with a small smile.

"A little over a year," said the spirit with no hesitation. "I wasn't really counting you see."

"I see." said Will with a perfectly emotionless face. "I don't necessarily feel like I've been still for a year. Shouldn't I have some form of muscle atrophy? My legs feel perfectly normal."

The spirit coughed. "Ummmm.... I dunno how to answer that? You should be feeling a great deal of pain as well but it seems that you don't feel anything."

"I've lost the ability to feel pain a long time ago."

The spirit frowned. "How did you lose your sense of pain? The only way I can think of is the consumption of-"

"It doesn't matter," coldly interrupted Will causing the little spirit to flinch. "You don't need to know how I lost it."

The spirit lowered her head. ".... I'm sorry for asking such a personal question."

"As long you keep in mind that some questions are better left unanswered," replied Will, softening his tone a bit.

However, it seemed that her actions had left the little spirit very ashamed as the spirit became to tear up. Watching the little spirit puff up her cheeks in an attempt to hold in her tears, Will couldn't help but chuckle. He couldn't help but think that the little spirit was adorable.

Will stretched out his finger and tapped the little spirit on the head. "Don't feel too sad about it. Everyone makes a mistake at some point. And didn't you mention that I was your first contractor? You are already doing fantastic."

The little spirit started to sniffle. "B-but I asked such an i-insensitive question about your past.... I should've r-realized what you had to go through when I saw those ho-horrendous scars all over your body but I-"

"Its just life," said Will kindly as he patted the little spirit on the head. "Everyone has a story to tell. It's just that my story is a little sadder than others."

"If only I was a *sniff sniff* a better spirit then I would've been-"

"Oh don't say that. You are a wonderful spirit already."

The spirit shook her head while rubbing her eyes. "I-I'm only the lowest tier spirit that can be found at any puddle or pond. I was born only a few years ago and was finally given a chance to make a contract with someone but I've already been a terrible spirit-"

Will picked up the little spirit with a hand and comforted her within his arms by giving her a hug. The spirit immediately stopped sniffling and looked up towards Will with glistening eyes. Will in turn gave her a kind and warm smile. "You might not be the best spirit, nor the most experienced, however, you are the little spirit that saved my life. I don't need any other spirit. So you can stop crying, miss lifesaver."

The little spirit nodded and wiped off the tears off her face before nestling deeper into his arms. "Y-yeah. You don't need anyone else but me. I managed to save you from your execution.... I might be the weakest now but eventually I'll become the strongest spirit king."

Will let out a loud laugh. "I guess I'm luckier than I thought. I managed to contract with a future spirit king."

The spirit, who heard the laugh from Will, lifted her head away from his chest and looked at him in confusion. "Is it just me or are you showing a lot more expression than compared to before?"

Will hesitated for a moment as he stared at the sky. ".... Perhaps. Now that I'm finally free, maybe I don't need to keep restricting myself."

The spirit gave Will an approving nod. "Yes, stop restricting yourself. Before, talking to you was like talking to an emotionless brick wall."

"Sorry for being a brick wall."

"It is ok. This lifesaver shall help you regain your emotions. Shall we head over to the nearest town first? I found one earlier while I was out looking for herbs."

"Sure. Lead the way."

The spirit jumped out of his arms and started to float towards the forrest and away from the beach. Will let out a smile as he followed after the happily smiling little spirit that seemed to brighten the world around her with every giggle.