Archive of Our Own

For navigators, the sea and the sky are equivalent forces.

Once you spend a few months on a ship, you realize that the allegory of the cave can perfectly work on the outdoors: endless ocean and endless sky become the only realities you rub shoulders with, any other settings becoming only a distant dream. When the day comes to an end and the waves turn black, night sky and sea working hand in hand. While the ocean became a dark caneva reflecting the moonlights, the sky became a shiny astral map indicating the right path to take underneath the Milky Way.

But one does not only need to raise his eyes to understand the map of the sky. The language of the stars is not one to be understood by anyone, and only an experienced navigator truly knows how to read them, becoming an essential member of any ship’s crew.

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“Are you sure you exactly know where we are?”

Minho sighed, already tired of talking with his captain. Even if he was a member of one of Symphonia’s seas major pirate clans, knowledge in astrophysics was more than often a lacking strength.

“I need time to work out the positions I took note of. But the territories we are crossing right now are not documented well enough, therefore this is why I need to make more calculations to find our way back. As opposed to usual, the meridians are not enough.”

Minho ended his explanation with the most polite smile he could offer, tired of having to explain theories his interlocutor probably couldn’t understand a word of, but also knowing that this is what his good reputation on the ship depended on. His abilities were the only reason his captain had trust in him, and it would not be wise to lose his esteem.

“So, that’s what’s gonna help us?”, the captain continued with a skeptical tone, pointing his hand towards the sky.

Minho immediately gasped, lowering the other man's hand before it stayed longer in the air.

“Don’t do that, it’s bad luck!”, Minho told him in a very serious tone, to which his superior only laughed.

“What, you believe that kind of stuff? The stars won’t see us pointing at them, kiddo”, the captain answered while wiping a tear of laughter from the corner of his eye.

“Better be safe than sorry”, the other man muttered, ears red of embarrassment to be laughed at. “And yes, if my calculations are exact, it will.”

His superior, who had shifted back to serious after his momentary outburst of laughs, nodded his head in understanding.

“I count on you then, Minho. I’ll leave you with your calculations”, he finally stated, before giving a strong encouraging pat on the younger’s back– which almost knocked Minho on the ground, which the captain did not even notice before walking away.

The navigator took a deep breath, finally left alone on the quarterdeck with his notes, his sextant and the stars above his head. To their luck, the night was clear of any clouds, offering to him the perfect map to work with. Leaning over the railings, with his elbow pressed against the wood, he took a second to admire the sea in silence, a serenity that he always deeply enjoyed.

Despite the late hour and the lack of light provided by the boat, the bright full moon was lighting as far as the horizon could go, making the use of the sextant even easier. The delicate earrings and necklace made of precious white stones Minho was wearing were dangling in the night breeze, shining in a way that could almost mistake them with the stars lining above his head.

It almost felt as if for a moment, everything was peaceful on the pirate ship, the night forgiving them of their sins.

But the moon shows everything.

Minho’s eyes suddenly caught something at the end of the horizon. Approaching toward them was standing a great ship, its crimson red sail caught in the wind going toward Minho’s ship at an alarmingly quick pace. Which occurred rather strange to Minho: first off, crossing the path of ships in the area they were in is not an occurrent sight, and what kind of ship navigates with all of their sails out this late at night?

The navigator suddenly gasped, realization hitting him. He quickly pulled out his telescope and pointed it in the other ship’s direction, taking a greater look at its flag. 

The symbol of a black turtle.

There was no doubt: this is a ship from the pirate of the North fleets. And a big one, that being said.

Despite him doing it nonetheless, warning his crew of the imminent danger was almost useless: unfolding the sails and orienting them on the wind would take too much time to avoid the enemy ship, a confrontation was almost unavoidable. And confrontation against a ship from the North didn’t leave them much hope, Minho knew that very well.

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A long time ago, only the royal fleets were allowed on the sea of Symphonia’s archipelago, along with some fishers boats having managed to get permission from the royalty. On the cramped islands scattered along its water, there wasn’t much space left for the subjects of the king, forcing them to submit to the authority to survive. Travelling from an island to another was an expensive privilege, and so was freedom in itself, transforming the sea in the gates of tiny paddocks. 

But one hundred years ago, a great revolution happened: groups of citizens managed to communicate through fishermen to prepare simultaneous revolutions across the islands of Symphonia, taking control of the harbours, and breaking down the gates of the sea. For the first time, common citizens could get a touch of freedom, but it was only a short-lived illusion. 

Quickly, what was meant to be due to the people got in the hands of the wrong groups, who took control of it. It became the beginning of the age of piracy, and the creation of the four great clans of pirate: the clan of the East, under the symbol of the horse, the clan of the West, under the tiger, the clan of the South, under the phoenix, and finally, the clan of the North, under the turtle. Those four clans quickly gained manpower from those avid of seeking adventures. Despite being outlaws for illegal navigations, they rarely got true problems from the royal fleets who quickly became overwhelmed and unable to fight them back. 

The clans of the North and the South quickly ended up being the strongest clans of the sea as northern and southern islands had the highest density in population, meanwhile, eastern and western islands were more scattered. Due to that, they had fewer habitants, and communication was slower, making some islands in those areas waiting months before even hearing about the revolution.

It’s around this wobbly system that the new balance of Symphonia was built; where the clan of the South and the North ended up in a constant fight to become the strongest force on the sea, while the clan of the East and the West lived in their shadows. 

Currently, the North is at the top of the food chain. Since the last decades, the seas were under the domination of the latest clan, having gained a sudden and overpowering strength. And Lee Minho, a simple navigator from the clan of the West, got well reminded of that during the brutality of the attack his ship went under on that cloudless night, while the moon was shining so brightly.

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It felt as if everything was falling apart around him, the floor oozing away under him and the impression that the whole world was spiralling. His head was hurting like hell.

What just happened? Minho’s memory was pitch black, just like his vision was right now, him having difficulty blinking his eyes open. He suddenly realized that he was being dragged, two strong hands holding each of his wrists were pulling him without any delicacy.

As his vision was starting to clear up and as Minho was slowly gaining back consciousness, he abruptly remembered the previous event. The ship of the North on the horizon, the rest of his crew rushing to the deck, the cannon shots from the enemy ship as it was getting closer before finally harpooning their ship and boarding it, followed by the panic of the battle between the two pirate clans. The West quickly found themselves outnumbered, being able to barely fight back the unexpected night attack. Minho got surrounded by two massive-looking pirates, and from then, he had no memory.

How was he even still alive? Maybe he wasn’t, Minho thought, as his whole body was aching from being manhandled around as if he was just a dead body. 

His hazy train of thought got interrupted by a bucket of cold water being thrown on his face, effectively snapping him from his dizziness and gasping for air.

“Hey, wake up. You gotta move”, told him, what he assumed to be, a pirate from the North with a massive scar striking his face.

Minho blinked while looking around, realizing he got dragged on a ship deck. Across the railings a few meters away from him, he could catch the sight of some ship burning in the distance. He chose to not ponder on it too long, for now, him surviving so far already being a miracle.

Handcuff put on his wrists (not that they didn’t hurt enough as it is), he got dragged to the ship’s hold, where some rusty jail took place. He could vaguely see the shape of a slumped-down figure inside.

He didn’t have the time to properly look at it that the pirate who brought him here pushed him inside, locking the cell’s door behind his back, the sinister sound of the metal being slammed echoing in the room.

“So… you’re new on this ship?” 

Minho blinked several times, looking at the figure in the shadow. 

Now that he was closer and heard his voice, he could recognize it. Not to his greatest joy.

“We’re both prisoners, Han Jisung”, Minho stated in a cold voice.

Why did he have to survive?

“I always wanted to say that line”, Jisung answered with a cheeky smile, raising his face towards the lantern’s dim light.

Minho turned on himself, facing the jail’s bars and completely ignoring his co-inmate.

“I changed my mind. Can I be executed already?”

“Hey!”, Jisung protested, being left ignored.

The scar-faced pirate sitting on a chair at the jail’s entrance scoffed at that remark, barely paying attention to the prisoner.

“Captain said he wants to talk with you. Can’t do that yet.”

“The captain? What does he want from me?”

“Don’t know.”

Quickly understanding that he wouldn’t be able to get much out of that guy, Minho turned back, laying his eyes on the younger man who looked at him with the same smile as earlier, the one he wanted to rip off from his face.

“And what are you doing here, Han Jisung.”

“I must have been too cute to kill, it makes us have something in common.”

Minho let out a deep sigh, letting himself fall on the floor against the wall. The floor itself looked disgusting, but it was the last of his problems.

“We are both navigators, and they got us locked up with the order to keep us alive. I think it’s not a stretch to guess that they’re aiming to use our skills”, pondered Minho out loud. ”Or that’s the Northern way to pass recruitment.” 

The other man slowly nodded, not getting back with a cheesy reply this time.

“I refuse to join their side”, he blurted out.

A moment of silence went by. Minho let out a deep sigh, his skull was still painfully throbbing. He must have gotten a hit to the back of his head which made him pass out earlier, but luckily, it feels like he only got out of it with a minor bruise.

“I’m not planning to either”, he finally answered.

“What happened to you?”

“They attacked us at night and I think the ship I was on burned down. At least some crew members must have made it out on lifeboats, not like I care about it that much.”

It was true. Minho knew how awful the people living on that ship could be, and tolerated them strictly for survival reasons. He hated pirates. 

Jisung seemed to grimace at his last remark.

“I… me and my crew got attacked by surprise, too, the last day, when we were stocking up at a harbour. I can’t remember much of what happened, but… I’m pretty sure they all made it out alive”,  he trailed off.

“You don’t seem too sure of that”, stated Minho.

“I just know it.”

The West’s navigator stared at the other pirate for a moment, taking in how serious the other man suddenly looked. And how deeply concerned his expression looked as he was keeping his eyes on the dirty floor.

Minho never liked Han Jisung much.

Well, if he had to be honest, it wasn’t exactly the younger man’s fault. Jisung was a pirate but didn’t belong to any of the four clans. 

When the authority of the crown got stripped away from the sea, the four major clans didn’t operate a strict ruling over the harbours like the royal guard did, giving a new ground of freedom to the people of Symphonia. Those who couldn’t make it onto a clan started taking the sea by their means, improvising themselves pirates as travelling without authorization was still a crime. Those minor pirate crews usually didn’t last long: they either ended up confronting a ship from a pirate clan who was pretty much always stronger than them or ended up caught by the royal fleets, who focused on catching the small fries instead of aiming for the big clans.

But sometimes, it happens that some stray pirate crew manage to survive and impose themselves as true travellers of Symphonia. It was the case of Han Jisung’s band, a small crew of seven men who were strong and witted enough to survive by themselves so far.

This concept seemed completely foolish to Minho. What was the point of joining the world of those barbarians of pirates, if they weren’t forced to or couldn’t benefit from some of the strength and power the clans could offer them? What’s so fun about messing around and risking your life over something so idiotic?

This was the reason Minho had a dislike towards Han Jisung, but sadly for him, navigators were part of the rare pirates who could meet without tension. Exchange of intellectual information about navigation was still a crucial element to create stable survival on the seas, that couldn’t be overlooked even by pirates.

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“So, let’s see… baby?”

“God, please, no.”

They had spent only about a few hours together already, and the stray pirate had in mind to find Minho a nickname to call him by. “It’s to strengthen our bond in those rough times”, he had said. Another reason why Minho set himself to dislike that man.

“What about sweetheart?”

“In your dreams.”

“Hum… then honey?”

“Those are not even nicknames, but pet names.”

“Wait, no! What about darling.”

“Jisung, I swear to god I’m gonna kill you-”

“If anyone’s gonna kill anyone, it’s gonna be me.”

The two navigators got startled, abruptly stopping their bickering to turn around toward the jail’s entrance. A taunting figure was standing there, taking the space of the whole door frame.

Minho never saw him from so close, be he sure heard about him: standing nearly two meters tall and holding an imposing built, the North’s captain Ruford “Cutthroat” Hayes was a man just as welcoming as the middle name he gained himself. Shaggy black hair and beard were covering his right ear, efficiently hiding the fact that it was long missing, a payback of one of his uncountable fights– suffice to say that the author of this wound ended up with his throat opened.

Hayes stepped out of the doorway, standing in front of the bars and glaring at the two prisoners with a mocking smile, looking down on them.

“How delightful is it to have the two best navigators of Symphonia at my mercy”, the captain sniggered. “And I bet those small fries were easy to catch, isn’t that right Igor?”

Hayes turned toward the scar-faced pirate who was still guarding the door, who nodded with his same bland and emotionless expression as always. 

“An easy catch, my captain. Their crew were nothing compared to us.” 

Minho felt Jisung next to him tense up, his arms pulling on his handcuffs. 

“Wait a bit for me and my crew to make you eat those words”, the younger spat with anger and newfound energy at the giant.

Minho’s eyes widened, mentally cursing the stray pirate for potentially making their situation worse.

Hayes stared at the smaller pirate for a few seconds, before bursting in laughter with a loud voice covering the creakings of the ship and echoing in the jail’s walls.

“I like your energy, kid. I and my crew are never against a good fight, if you can rise for the challenge”, answered the giant with amusement.

“I’m guessing you didn’t kidnap us to schedule future little playtimes”, Minho said, successfully cutting Jisung who was already opening his mouth to answer the challenge. 

The West’s navigator raised his chin to meet Hayes’s sight, gathering all of his courage to hold on the eye contact with confidence.

“What deal do you want from us?”

“Cutting straight to the chase, don’t you?”, Hayes asked back. “Well, I do have some use to make out of you two.” 

The two prisoners stayed silent, their gaze locked on the captain as he leaned on the bars, grabbing one of them in a stronghold.

“I’ll make it short and easy. The North Clan is looking for the eighth key of the forgotten treasure.”

Minho’s breath hitched, his eyes locked with the captain. He didn’t hear that name in a long time.

Quickly hiding the flash of surprise mixed with a hint of worry that passed through his eyes, he opened his mouth.

“This is just a legend. It has been lost since long before the pirate revolution one hundred years ago”, Minho calmly stated.

“Oh, so you know about it? That’s to expect from the West’s best navigator, I knew my men made the right decision by taking you.”

Minho furrowed his brow, biting the inside of his mouth. Is he truly surprised by him knowing about the keys, or was it all part of his plan? If so, what hint did he leave that associated him with the treasure?

“But… no one ever found that treasure”, Jisung spoke up, as he stayed silent that whole time. “What you need to find is not navigation knowledge, but hints about its position, or even a confirmation of its existence to start with.”

“Oh, but we do have information”, Hayes said with a smirk. “Fishermen with strong proof of its existence gave us some useful information, in exchange for being in our good boots. Our only problem: it’s situated deep in the West, in a zone that is barely covered by maps. The only hint left about its position its previous owner gave away is based on astronavigation, and I and my men had no way of reading it… until now.”

Minho clenched his fists, having notably tensing up after hearing about those “fishermen”.

“How can you be so sure that you can trust their words”, Minho said in a cold tone, his jaw clenched.

“We have our ways in the North that a simple pirate from the West couldn’t understand”

Minho took a breath, closing his eyes for a few seconds. He ended up in a position he feared, and it seemed like he had no escape routes. And Jisung, with whom he was stuck, was being unhelpfully quiet as the younger man had been looking back and forth between Hayes and Minho with confused eyes.

“Why don’t you ask your “navigator” Milburn to fulfill this job?”, the younger finally asked, once again not losing the occasion to defy Hayes in his tone.

“You already know who Milburn really is, Han”, stated the captain, which was the truth.

“So I’m guessing we have no other option”, Minho said with a sigh, giving up.

“Well, I’m afraid your only other option is torture. We wouldn’t want to let go of such talents as soon as we set our hands on you two, after all. Estimate yourself lucky enough that we had the hospitality to not start with that.”

The two prisoners grimaced, not liking hearing such gruesome ideas being told as if he was simply announcing the weather. 

“Is our deal clear ?”, Hayes asked.

“Of course”, Minho answered with a forced smile.

“Not like we have much choice”, Jisung grumbled on his side.

“But despite how lovely your little gaols are, we would be more inclined to work if we disposed of cabins and could be free from those handcuffs”, Minho asked in a fake sweet tone.

Hayes snickered at Minho’s words. “Who do you think we are, barbarians?”

Minho rolled his eyes. 

“Now that we got our agreement, we intend to take care of our special shipment”, Hayes finished.

🗝🗝

Minho adjusted the large poet shirt on him, his white pendant shimmering on his torso in the middle of the loosely fitted collar ornamented with large frills. It was tucked in black leather pants, and on his feet the same knee-high boots he was wearing when he got on the ship.

Once the agreement to find back the artifact has been made, the North pirates started to treat them a bit more like humans: they were given enough water to clean themselves, food to fill up their stomachs, as well as new clothes; Minho’s old one being all ripped from the attack that brought him here. And just as the West’s navigator asked, they’ve been given a cabin equipped with astronavigations materials –fancy ones Minho only dreamed about being able to use before–, as well as two bunks bed instead of the simple hammocks common crewmates used. 

Not that Minho felt any closer to being spoiled by the North pirates. Hayes may not have started by torture as he told them earlier, but being locked up in the gaols without any questions asked was a statement of power from them. They were not afraid to treat them as simple tools for them to use and made it clear to them.

As of now, Minho was laying down on his bunk bed, arms crossed behind his head. From the corner of his eyes, he was observing Jisung, the latest inspecting the materials they’ve been given.

“Gotta say”, the younger navigator suddenly started, “you looked pretty hot when you talked back to Hayes earlier, darling.”

Minho internally sighed, fixing back his eyes on the selling. Forget usual torture, sharing a cabin with Jisung was enough.

“And you looked pretty dumb when you fucking challenged him as soon as he stepped in”, he answered.

“What? A man gotta defend his dignity”, Jisung answered while finally looking at Minho, pressing his palms on their cabin’s desk as he leaned back on it.

Minho looked at him, taking his appearance in. He was still wearing the same long red coat that he had in the jail.

“Why didn’t you change that coat when they offered us clothes? It has seen better days”, commented Minho.

“It’s a gift from my hyungs. I can’t just get rid of it”, Jisung pouted while lifting an arm to show more of the fabric. “Moreover, I can’t just accept clothes from them. It would mean they’re owning us.”

“They already own us, unless you have some plans.”

“You don’t?”

Minho squinted his eyes, noticing the determination in the younger’s voice. After a few seconds of silence, he sat up straight on his bed, turning fully toward Jisung.

“Maybe. I use the services they gave us, but I’m not enjoying them.”

“What are you planning?”

“Well first”, Minho started, while contemplating his thoughts, “we need to find and take away from them the other seven keys. If they are looking for the eight, the rumour that the North clan possesses the other ones must be true.”

The said “rumour” was in fact Minho’s theory. If you were to study the history of Symphonia’s sea, the sudden rise of the North clan makes no sense. He knew the legend of the eight keys stated that owning the seven first would confer great strength to its possessor, the artifacts supposed to be used to fight against ancient mythological creatures– mostly chimeras if you can say so. Seeing how the North clan is thriving only because of their overwhelming brute force, it has been a guess of him that they were the current owners of the keys. 

But not knowing his theory, Jisung tilted his head in confusion. “We’re lucky if we even manage to make it out of there, that’s way too risky.”

“I thought you stray pirates were braver than that”, spat back Minho. “If you don’t want to help me to find them, then I’ll work alone.”

On those words, Minho leaned back on his arms, his palms planted on the bed.

The neck of his new blouse went deeper than his previous shirt, revealing the pendant of his necklace, the clear crystal catching the light sleeping through the cabin’s porthole as he leaned back. The sparkle seemed to caught Jisung's attention, the latest shifting his look towards it.

Jisung leaned closer to Minho– suddenly lifting the clear crystal of his pendant, observing the gold dragon frame entwined around the gem. Minho had a slight pullback movement, not drifting completely away from Jisung, his heart pounding a bit louder as his eyes were wide and fixed on the younger. 

After observing his jewelry for a few more seconds, the younger finally let go of it and pulled back.

“I see. Let’s find them back then.”

Minho blinked, being frozen for a few seconds, before turning away from Jisung and pulling up his blouse above his pendant.

“I’m used to sneaking around, I could try to handle this,'' Jisung continued. “The ship is pretty big and I’ve got no knowledge of its pattern, but it’s usually not that hard to figure out where a pirate hid their treasure.” Jisung stopped for a few seconds, seeming to hesitate to say what was on his mind. “And I may have an idea to get us out of here.”

“You sure about that?”, asked Minho, gaining back his composure.

“Would you trust me?”

“... I don’t have much of a choice”, Minho answered with a sigh. “But promise me to help find the eight keys”, he firmly added.

“You can count on me, darling,” said Jisung while shooting a half failed wink towards Minho, but a sincere determination was still present in his voice.

The latest grimaced at the poor attempt of flirting. “Looks like I made a pact with two different kinds of devils today.”

🗝🗝

2 years ago

Deep in the South, on one of its biggest tropical island’s coastal town, Rhum was freely flowing in pirates’ mugs without the supervision of the crown’s authorities. Libertia, also known as the “pirate’s capital” of the southern seas, was one of the three cities run only by pirates, the two others being situated in the north.

The summer evening was still warm, the city able to take a breath after its ruthless days of heatwaves. Minho was walking alone in the narrow streets, the heels of his boots echoing on the cobblestones, the sounds being almost drowned under the voices of drunk pirates either singing together or fighting each other. He didn’t pay any attention to them, not intending to stray away from his goal and get it finished the sooner possible.

Tonight was the pirates’ fleets navigators meeting, the latest having managed to finally plan a confluence to extend their known maps, navigation techniques and documentations. It was being held in Libertia, in the high zones bordering the small town, at the mansion of one of the South’s navigators, Audley Smith. To the difference of usual pirates, navigators usually have more will to collaborate.

But of course, they were still pirates. Their goals were not truly an equal exchange of information, but a hostage-taking of knowledge – not adding that it was hard to tell apart the true data and the fake ones they were throwing in with the idea to disadvantage their rivals. Those meetings were truly not a gift.

Entering the room where the meeting was taking place after being led around the big luxurious house by the servant who let him in, Minho noticed he was the last one to enter, as the four other men sitting around the table locked their eyes on him.

Four? That’s unusual, though Minho. To avoid out-numbering a clan and power unbalance (not like there wasn’t any either way), it was a rule that each pirate fleet could send only one of their navigators if they happened to have more than one. Other than that, Minho couldn’t recognize the new man and had no clues which clan he was under, as he already met every other navigator here.

Minho had no choice but to sit next to him, wincing as he avoided sitting next to the East’s navigator Beck, the West’s fleet having obliterated one of their ships just yesterday. He could feel the other men’s eyes boring into him, his animosity from the other side of the table was palpable.   

“Everyone’s finally here? Now let’s get this over with so we can all get out of here”, said the North’s navigator, Milburn, in a bored tone, a gruff man who was already slouched on his chair with his feet on the table. Minho had no clues in what way he was a navigator, this title being most likely only an excuse for a simple pirate undercover to steal information from other clans. 

“We are hosting a guest today?”, Minho asked, while eyeing the man sitting next to him, only to notice that he was already staring at him with curious eyes. Minho quickly avoided his look, flustered from creating eye contact.

“Mister Han Jisung here is a member from a stray pirate ship,” today’s host Audley explained while stirring his tea, sitting in an up straight posture. The man was the complete opposite of Milburn, and the only pirate navigator Minho knew who was truly fulfilling his role– along with himself, that being said. 

“Himself and his crew proved to be worthy of being recognized on our seas due to their… prowess against the royal fleets”, Audley continued, before taking a sip of his tea. “Considering their honour of possessing a navigator, we deemed him worthy of joining us today.”

“How generous of you”, Minho muttered.

“Right?”, Jisung answered with a wide smile, seemingly excited to be part of the meeting.

The said meeting flew as usual, unfolding until late in the night. They managed to almost finish the calculations for the latitude of the sun’s declination at its meridian over the year– a project they had ongoing for way too long. It's what it took for them to gain more power on the sea, as for now, only the royal fleets possessed those kinds of data. The fastidious works of those meetings were only the first step towards a future where that kind of information would be more easily accessible. 

But of course, it didn’t go all well without any problems. Milburn and Audley were at each other’s throats the whole time, their personalities crashing way too much, and the inexperience in terms of navigation knowledge from the northern pirate was painfully slowing them down. Meanwhile, the eastern navigator barely helped them in any way, seeming to process his clan’s defeat as anger was visible on his features. Minho avoided looking at him the whole time, his creepy vibe making him uneasy. 

On the other hand, the stray newcomer was surprisingly a reliable help. Han Jisung was happily devoted to his work, looking unphased to be in the presence of pirates from stronger enemy clans, despite not having one to back up himself apart from his small crew.

Exhausted from the meeting, Minho was now finally walking out of Audley’s mansion, not losing time to split up from the others and heading towards the inn he was staying in tonight. He couldn’t wait to finally have some peace and to sleep in a true bed instead of his cabin, hoping that drunk pirates wouldn’t create too much commotion over the night. 

But as Minho was engaging himself in the narrow streets, he could feel a presence shadowing him, an uncomfortable feeling crawling up his neck. Not having the patience to deal with it any longer, he stopped his walk and turned on his heels.

“Whoever you are, you are doing a terrible job at shadowing me. Show yourself.”

Emerging from the shadow, a silhouette walked up in front of him after a few seconds of silence.

Beck, the East’s navigator. Of course.

“What’s your deal?”, Minho asked, keeping his composure as he was hiding his nervosity. Instinctively, he took a step back as the other man was getting closer.

“Lee Minho”, Beck growled. “You are the one who led the West’s fleet toward one of our ships yesterday.”

Minho swallowed. “You know this confrontation was an accident. Both ships were heading towards each other by coincidence.”

He was saying the truth. Minho’s ship had nothing to do with yesterday’s incident.

“You liar! Because of you, we lost one of our strongest ships, and the power to reconquer our lost territories!”, Beck suddenly shouted, drawing out a revolver.

Minho’s breath hitched, heartbeat speeding up at the sight of the gun, as he raised both of his hands on command to not anger the other man furthermore.

“Hey, Beck, we’re navigators, right?” Minho started hesitantly, forcing himself to smile to hopefully appease Beck. “We always worked together, you know I wouldn’t lie to you.”

It’s okay, though Minho, although the loud thumping of his heart was betraying his composure. He got the upper hand right now but if I manage to distract him, he’s close enough so I can knock out his weapon. C’mon Minho, you’ve been through worse than that.

“That’s bullshit!”, Beck retorted, his eyes flashing in anger. “I know you-”

“Now, now, why being so violent? He just said it wasn’t him.”

None of the two men had noticed Han Jisung before he spoke up, the younger navigator agilely placing a dagger against Beck’s throat, holding his jaw with his other hand to keep his head still.

“Now be nice and give me your gun if you want to get out of this unharmed.”

Beck’s eyes were going back and forth between the dagger against his skin and the revolver in his hand, shocked to have ended up in that situation so quickly. Only a slight movement would make the blade pierce through his skin, putting him to the complete mercy of Jisung.

His grip tightened on his gun, shaking, before lowering it down.

“Fuck!”, he cursed out, as Jisung grabbed his revolver before pushing him and pointing the weapon at Beck.

“Now get out of here,” the navigator sternly told.

Beck stepped back, glaring at him and Minho, before finally running away.

“You okay?”, Jisung asked with concern once he was out of their sight, turning towards Minho.

“I could have handled that by myself”, Minho coldly answered, looking away from Jisung. He didn’t like to appear weak.

“You sure did look like it”, Jisung answered with sarcasm. He looked towards the direction Beck ran off. “That dude looked like an asshole.”

Minho shrugged. “Can’t really blame him. That’s how things work here.”

On those words, Minho turned back towards the direction he was going for, walking away. He heard Jisung catching up on him.

“But you look different”, Jisung simply stated, his eyes fixed on Minho.

The latest frowned. “What do you mean by that?”

“Compared to the others, I mean. At the meeting, you were truly passionate when talking about navigation, I could see it in your eyes. You don’t look like a pirate.”

“... You think so?”, Minho answered with a timid voice, internally cursing himself for showing a second of vulnerability to the other pirate. But he couldn’t control it, as it must have been one of the most genuine compliments on his person he heard in years.

“Yeah!”, Jisung answered with a wide smile. “I think you and I are somewhat alike.”

🗝🗝

That was the first time Minho ever met Jisung. Since then, the youngest was trying every time they met to get closer to him, without subtility. Deep inside, Minho was feeling a mix of flattery and joy to be the object of such covetousness by someone like Jisung, but it was overpowered by his urge to close himself off from the younger. It was too risky, and it was too hard to fully trust him. Especially since he had still yet to come to terms with the concept of stray pirates. He doesn't exactly remember at what point in their relationship he started to put up his walls, but it surely never discouraged the younger one. 

How ironic was that once again, his life had to play into Jisung’s hands.

It was Minho’s fourth day in the North clan, and nothing much has changed since then. They still had yet to decipher the map Hayes got from the fishermen, and the night has been too cloudy in the past days to see the stars. They were heading towards the approximate direction in which the treasure could be found, but they still had yet to find its precise location.

Minho was working alone in their cabin, the sound of his pen scratching against the paper keeping him company. A map was spread out on the desk, the navigator tracing lines on it with the help of a ruler to update their current position. Not that no pirates in the North knew how to take a position, but it was more trustable for him to do it himself to not risk ending up a few dozen degrees off. He always thought it was ridiculous how the strongest clan of Symphonia was surviving purely by brute force and manpower.

His train of thought got interrupted by Jisung entering the cabin, crashing on his bunk bed with a loud sight.

“Found anything?”, Minho asked without raising his nose from his map.

“Igor’s gonna throw me out the ship if I keep on lurking around. I’m calling it off for today.”

Minho made a sound of acknowledgement, not questioning him any further. The quiet but frightening pirate has been following them every time they stepped outside of their cabin, making it almost impossible for them to search the boat. Even if Jisung was the most stealthy of them two, to venture out on the ship without knowing its toponymy was a hard task.

“What ‘you doing?”, Jisung suddenly asked, grabbing Minho’s map as the older one had stopped annotating it.

The stray navigator stared at the paper for a few moments in silence, his eyes scanning the information.

“Change our trajectory by twenty-three degrees off”, he then finally said before putting back the map on Minho’s desk.

Minho frowned. “Twenty-three? That’s a huge difference.”

“You think they’re gonna suspect it?”

“Probably not, but that’s a risk to take. You sure that detour will be worth it?”

“Trust me”, Jisung told him, shooting a thumbs up before crashing back on his bed.

Minho chose to not question him any further. Despite his life decisions, Jisung was indeed a trustable navigator. He took note of their new trajectory in silence, before putting back down his pen.

Minho kept on staring at the paper for a few more seconds, contemplating a thought. “Hey, Jisung.”

“Mhm?”

“Where did you learn what was the symbol on my necklace? You seemed like you recognized it, that last time”, finally asked Minho, this question being on his mind ever since that happened. But in between Minho beating around the bush and the North pirates making sure to keep them busy enough to rarely get the time to truly talk together, this was the first time he was voicing it out loud.

Jisung’s raised his eyebrows, surprised by the sudden interest from the other navigator. 

“Want me to tell you a story?”, he then asked, seemingly hesitant after a few moments of silence.

Minho turned towards him, finally laying his eyes on Jisung and giving him his attention. He simply made a humming sound in agreement.

“You know, there was a reason I became a pirate”, Jisung started, while sitting up straight on his bed.

“I always thought the island I was born on wasn’t big enough for me. So that’s why I left when I was fourteen. In the beginning, I was a simple sailor in the East fleet, but I found out you couldn’t truly be free by being tied down to a pirate clan. Do you know how much knowledge gets lost in those seas, and how much mystery there is? Meeting the guys from my crew and joining a stray pirate ship is my only way to truly explore the world.” Jisung took a pause, lost in his thought for a few seconds. 

“I think I saw the symbol on your pendant in some old fancy books we took back from pirates after fighting another ship. They were using those books as simple decoration, they could barely even read them”, Jisung scoffed at the last part. “A complete waste of knowledge.”

“It showed, among other stuff, that it was the symbol of an old fishermen bloodline. They were the ones protecting the eight keys, way before the pirate revolution happened.” Jisung stopped again for a moment, looking back at Minho. “Are you..?”

“Someone gave this necklace to me”, Minho answered quickly, averting his eyes away from Jisung and back to his map. The younger simply hummed, looking at Minho with curious eyes for a few more seconds before giving up.

Minho wished he had the same freedom as Jisung. Or had a choice. This was exactly why he disliked stray pirates.

Or was it truly dislike? Perhaps envy?

Like usual, Minho preferred to not think about it.

🗝🗝

The cracking sounds of the ship were echoing in the halls, the wooden planks of the ground being just as loud as Minho’s boots were stomping on them. Coming at an intersection, he looked to the left, to the right and behind him. No one in sight. Did Igor lose his trace?

To be honest, he had no clues where he was on the ship. All he knew was that he was deep inside the floating wooden carcass, in some unoccupied era as all the other pirates were busy orienting the sail on the deck. As the wind was not blowing right into their direction, this could take them hours of ropes pulling. His only worry right now was the higher-ranked members of the North clans, not busying themselves with such degrading tasks.

Minho knew Jisung was currently up to something. His guts told him to look for the younger navigator, so here he was, the fishermen’s maps folded and stuck in his pant’s pocket. He recently figured out how to read it, but stayed vague about his newfound knowledge when being questioned on their progress by Hayes.

Hayes. Minho gulped. God knew where that giant was right now.

Snapping him out of his reflection, he heard noises down the hall. A sound similar to a chair being dragged, a scraping and squeaking sound on the floor managing to not be covered by the chant of the ship. It was too far down the hall to be heard clearly, but he could manage to grab some of it. This part of the ship was empty and dusty, certainly not one that is usually supposed to be occupied.

As Minho took hesitant steps towards the source of the suspicious noises, he suddenly heard a loud clattering, feeling the weight of something falling on the ground in the floor’s vibrations under his boots.

Followed by it, he heard the voice of someone loudly grunting in pain. It worryingly sounded like Jisung.

Minho didn’t have the time to deliberate his supposition as loud steps reverberated in the halls, coming from the opposite direction as him, and storming towards the source of the noises. Shouts of a thunderous voice followed, it being too far for Minho to decipher the words being hollered.

Minho’s eyes widened, quickly figuring out what was happening. He rapidly scanned the area he was in, looking for a weapon to use as he was empty-handed, and old pipes stored in a corner caught his attention. He grabbed one, not losing any seconds to sprint down the hall and turning towards the provenance of the cacophony, adrenalin pulsing through his veins. He had a really bad feeling.

Turning the corner, he saw a door wide open, figuring out Igor’s voice coming out of it. His knuckles turned white as he was clutching the metal, muscles of his arms tensing as he swung the pipe, managing to hit straight in the back of the other man’s head.

Immediately after his blow, the pirate lost all strength, collapsing on the floor, unconscious.

Behind his body, Minho could catch the sight of a Jisung shrunk on himself, backed up against the room’s wall. The younger navigator slowly lowered the arm he raised to protect himself, as his eyes fell on Minho, his face froze in shock and staring at him with wide eyes. 

“W-what are you doing here?”, he stammered. 

Minho was catching his breath, coming down from his sudden panic, before throwing the pipe on the ground.

“Saving your ass. What do you think you were doing?”

The room they were standing in was barely bigger than a janitor closet, but its ceiling was unusually high. Chairs were scattered around –probably the origin of the loud sound Minho heard earlier–, all in front of a tall columnar cabinet. An old rusty metallic chest was crashed at Jisung feet, its lock being pulverized by the fall, and its insides exposed wide opened, completely emptied.

The younger navigator stuck out his other hand who was hidden under his coat, revealing seven shining golden keys, each engraved with different crystals. 

Minho’s brows raised in surprise as Jisung was now offering him a big toothy smile.

“Look what I finally found!”

Minho didn’t have time to open his mouth to answer and share his surprise as he heard footsteps down the hall.

“Shit!”, he cursed under his breath, eyes fleeing to Igor’s inert body in front of them and Jisung who was still toppled on the floor.

He quickly straddled over the northern pirate’s body, reaching out to grab Jisung’s hand, pulling him to his feet before rushing out of the room, dragging the younger man behind him.

Not having the time to truly run away from their crime scene, Minho opened a nearby door to reveal what was probably a broom closet, pulling the both of them inside.

They barely had the time to squeeze in and close the door behind them that they heard the footsteps reaching the room they were in a few seconds ago. Both navigators were holding their breath, freezing from head to toes, not daring to move a muscle.

“There’s a mutiny on the ship!”, a loud voice that was undeniably Hayes suddenly shouted. “Everyone to their post! Find back the navigators!”

The heavy steps stormed in front of the closet they were hiding it, before dissolving in the distance. Soon after, they heard noises from all around the ship. Were they that close to the rest of the crew?

Jisung and Minho exchanged a panicked look before exiting their hiding spot, as it was not ensuring their security for far longer. 

“Jisung, I’m begging you, please tell me this is part of your plan”, Minho urged, as his eyes were scanning all around them, expecting danger to come from every corner.

Jisung was chewing on his lips, looking as distressed as Minho. “I’m… not really sure.”

“What do you mean “not really sure” ?”, Minho whispered-shouted.

Jisung looked around him as if he was looking for something, before turning towards the older.

“Follow me”, he declared before grabbing his hand and dragging him in an unknown direction.

They could hear distant footsteps making the wood cracks, which made them fear that pirates were coming in their direction. Minho was helpless as he couldn’t do anything but being dragged by Jisung, the younger frantically looking around as he was running through the halls. 

Without any warning, he stopped all of a sudden, rushing to a window they just passed through and stuck his face on it, scanning the horizon.

After a few seconds, the younger gasped, letting out a cry of joy.

“Oh my god, I was certain that I completely messed up my timing!”, Jisung said with a shaky laugh of relief. “Wait, I mean no! The situation was perfectly under control!”, he hastily added.

Minho approached the glass, looking through it. 

Revealing itself on the horizon, he could witness a massive ship about the size of the one they were one. He couldn’t see the symbol on its flag, but its bright purple colour was unmissable. Purple ink being rare and expensive, the sight of a purple flag can only mean one thing.

“You brought us to the Leviathan ?”, Minho said with his eyes wide open in disbelief.

The Leviathan was one of the most feared ships of Symphonia, almost as much as the headship of the North. Despite it being part of the royal fleet, it was not similar to its colleagues, who could barely fight pirates and was spreading terror among those latest. 

Minho couldn’t even fathom how Jisung, a stray pirate, could be reckless enough to know how to track down such a ship.

“Well… now we got a great distraction to escape?”, Jisung said with a sheepish smile, scratching the back of his head.

“And how exactly do you want us to escape?”

“By stealing a lifeboat”, Jisung answered as if it was obvious. “We shouldn’t be too far from the treasure island’s coast by now. Let’s move!”

The two navigators must not have been the only ones on the boat to have noticed the Leviathan, as there were still no other pirates in their section of the ship. The royal ship must have indeed worked as a distraction and brought their danger back on the deck.

Minho and Jisung were running through the halls, struggling to not stumble on their feet as the ship started to roll and pitch due to the preparation for the imminent battle. They just needed to get to the starboard’s deck, the face of the ship opposite to the one facing the Leviathan, find a lifeboat, and they would be finally free from the grip of the North.

On that thought, they finally got out of the maze of halls they were in, climbing stairs two steps at a time, and finding themselves right under the deck.

“Okay, maybe I didn’t plan our whole evasion”, Jisung said while scratching his neck, once the two of them stopped, not exactly knowing where to go after running aimlessly for what felt like an eternity.

“Maybe if we manage to blend into the deck right now, they will be too busy to pay attention to us,” Minho tried.

“Where do you boys think you’re going,” a low voice taunted from behind them.

Their heart skipped a beat as they snapped their head behind them and turned back, seeing the pirate standing right in front of them to their greatest fear.

Igor.

Of what is his skull made of to stand back from such a strong blow that quickly? Minho thought, with an opened mouth and wide eyes. And to make the situation even more critical, the taller man was holding that goddamn pipe Minho dropped before running away with Jisung.

“You vermins brought the fucking Leviathan here!”, Igor shouted, stepping closer to them.

Jisung exchanged a quick look with Minho, before saying out loud what was their only option left.

“Run!”

Adrenaline coursed through their vein as they sprinted as fast as they could to the stairs leading to the deck, emerging behind the multiple pirates preparing the ship for the fight. Minho barely had the time to scan his environment with his eyes to spot where the lifeboats were stored, when he heard loud footsteps behind him, feeling its vibration down to his bones.

“Don’t let them escape!”, yelled Igor. 

Minho realized he was standing alone, Jisung having probably run off somewhere in the middle of the chaos, making him the ideal prey.

He pushed harder and ran, but there was no escape. Too many pirates had noticed his presence, Igor was tailing right behind him, and there was no way he could lose them on the deck.

To his despair, Minho found himself backed up against the railing, his back facing the deep blue sea. 

He hoped that Jisung found a way to escape while they were chasing him.

How ironic that the person he constantly pushed back was the only one who helped him until almost the very end, before leaving him alone to deal with his fate and escaping on his own. But Minho was not blaming him and was not truly surprised. It was the logical decision to take in that situation, and he deserved to run away from here. 

Men were screaming in the utter chaos the two navigators created on the deck, and the wind was making the sails lash.

Cornered, he was walking back along the railings as Igor was getting closer, his back pressed against the wood until it wasn’t. He reached the part where the railings opened on the sea, and in the heat of the moment, Minho didn’t have time to catch back himself as he fell out of the ship.

In a matter of seconds, he touched the waves, the sea engulfing him as if Symphonia was waiting with its mouth wide open for him to fall and swallow him whole. 

His hands unnecessarily reached out towards the ship, but it was too late. He didn’t even know how to swim.

He sank under the surface of the water, the layer of liquid softening the uproar noises of the outside, pulling him in the quiet deadly depth of the sea. Yellow sunbeams were being filtered under it, dancing with the current, as if gold was being melted at the surface of the water, sealing Minho under it. It hit his necklace, making the clear crystal shine as it was floating above his neck.

That damn necklace.

The reason it all started.

🗝🗝

“What’s this, grandpa?”

Ten years old Minho was holding a wooden box engraved with a silver dragon shape on top of it, and a heavy lock preventing him from opening it. He was using all of his strength to hold the heavy object in his tiny hands.

“Oh my, where did you find that?” his grandfather asked, with no venom in his voice.

“In the basement!”, the little boy answered proudly.

“I didn’t know it was the kind of place you liked to play in.”

“Grandpa’s always on the sea, that’s why you can’t know”, Minho pouted.

The older man ruffled his hair, relieving the boy from the box’s weight by taking it from his hands.

“I’ll bring you along soon enough.”

“Really?”, Minho asked with sparkling eyes. 

“It’s a family tradition to transmit the love of the sea. I’ll show you what’s in the box at this moment”, the old man told him as he was brushing the dragon shapes covering the box with his fingertips.

“When are we going?”, the little boy questioned with excitement.

“Soon”, his grand-father answered, without giving any more details.

Minho kept on pouting, not satisfied with his answer.

Through Minho’s childhood, he always perceived his grand-father as a strange man. 

Being raised by his grandparents, he holds no memories of his parents, being told that they disappeared in his early childhood, as they were the passengers of a lost ship. His grandfather was a fisherman, the last one of a very long descendant, pulling to way back before the pirates’ revolution.

Before this event, families of fishermen were the most knowledgeable of the sea, having ancestral traditions being transmitted from parents to children. But after the pirate revolutions, due to their important role in it, most of them ended up being thrown in jail by the royal fleets. Minho’s family were part of one of the rare ones who managed to escape to some remote part of the West’s islands, where they managed to live in peace.

Minho was twelve when his grandfather started to teach him navigation, knowledge the younger man quickly learned to put pride in, learning from the passion and expertise of the old man.

Minho was sixteen when his grand-father deemed him worthy of wearing their family’s symbol and opened the box to give him his necklace, the one that his lost mother left behind her.

And Minho was seventeen when his grandfather fell badly ill and told him the story of the eight forgotten keys. How they used to be a tool to bring peace in Symphonia, but got stolen a long time ago and were now used with evil intention, to the dishonour of their family who was supposed to protect them. That only the eighth key, the one that is rumoured to be able to make any wish come true, has been hidden for a long time and is not in anyone’s possession. 

Before his grandfather’s death, he promised to hold honour to his family’s bloodline. That he will be the one to find back the long-lost artifacts, that he will fix their errors of the past by taking them back and putting an end to this era of instability in Symphonia.

Being raised by a fisherman made it easy for him to get enrolled as a pirate, as his competencies got quickly noticed. Taking the sea at eighteen years old was uncommon, but not impossible, and his name quickly circulated, making him climb up the ranks in a matter of time.

At his moment, Minho only wished that Jisung didn’t forget the promise to find back the forgotten artifact.

🗝🗝

Everything felt uncomfortably cold. Minho couldn’t feel his body anymore, and couldn’t hear or see anything either. It was as if he was in the depth of a pitch-black abyss, maybe even buried six feet under the ground.

“Minho!”

The voice sounded distant, as if someone was screaming his name underwater. It troubled the state of peaceful nothingness he was in, bugging him out. 

“Wake up!”

The voice sounded a bit louder and more clear. As if the wall of water separating Minho from it was getting thinner. Or as if someone was starting to cut the influx of water. And whose voice was that?

“Minho, please.”

The voice was becoming clearer and clearer, and Minho slowly started to feel his body back.

“Minho, please, wake up!”

He blinked slowly, information starting to make its way up to his brain, feeling like some old engine being turned back on after a long time. His vision finally started to come back bit by bit, dizzy fog dissipating from his head.

“J-... Jisung?”, Minho grunted, the name he muttered coming as something distant in his ears. A coughing fit followed once the sound got out of his mouth, spitting salty water out.

“Oh my god, Minho!”, Jisung answered in a voice that sounded pained.

The older started to try and sit up, even if his vision wasn’t fully back, creating protests from Jisung who tried to make him lay back down. Minho blinked a few more times, Jisung's face coming a bit more clearer to him. He noticed the younger was crying.

“Jisung..? What happened?”, Minho asked, his voice raspy.

“You almost drowned, you dumbass”, Jisung answered between sniffles. 

“I… almost drowned?”, Minho said, more as a way to process the information than to ask a question.

All of a sudden, everything flashed back to him. Him saving Jisung from Igor, the Leviathan, being purchased by pirates, and finally him falling in the sea. From the moment he touched the water, his memory was completely blank.

“W-what happened? What are you doing here?”, Minho suddenly said, managing to sit up this time despite Jisung’s trying to stop him. He noticed they were in a small boat, its wooden shell being planted in the sand of some uninhabited-looking island. Waves were still holding on the boat, making it slightly come back and forth between the water and the sand. He was covered with Jisung’s red coat, the cloth being dry, meanwhile, he and the stray pirate were completely wet.

Jisung sniffled again, messily wiping his slippery cheeks with the back of his hand. Heavy tears were still sliding on his face as if the salty water of the sea was overflowing from his eyes.

“I lost you when we were escaping from Igor, and got to the lifeboat alone. I-... I had no time to think so I lowered the boat and then I saw you sinking in the sea.” Jisung took a short break, biting his lip, seeming visibly affected by reminiscing those events. “I heard cannon shots, probably because they started fighting the Leviathan, and d-dived in the sea to get you, and… when I got you to the boat, you were not moving, I thought I lost you.”

Minho stared at Jisung for a moment, taking a few seconds to absorb the new information. His mouth fell slightly open, as the other navigator was avoiding his look, his eyes lowered on the ground.

“You… you came back, for me? Why?”, Minho asked, taken aback.

Jisung looked up at him, incomprehension wrote on his face. 

“You’re asking me why..?” 

“I-I mean”, Minho continued, being the one this time to lower his eyes, feeling embarrassed. “We’re not even from the same clan, and hell, I’m always acting like an ass with you. You… you didn’t have to risk your life for me. It wasn’t worth it for you.”

A few seconds of silence passed before Jisung gave a weak punch on Minho’s shoulder.

“Hey, I just almost drowned!”, the latter said in surprise.

“You’re really an idiot, uh?”

Minho blinked in confusion, not seeing where he was going.

“We have known each other for two years, and I know you got a hard shell, but you are someone good”, Jisung told him, firmly planting his look into Minho’s, despite his eyes being still shiny with tears. “I-... I would never give you up like that. Taking a risk is worth it if it’s to save you.”

Minho felt his heart loudly thumping against his chest, blood rushing to his ears. He lowered his eyes, not being able to hold any longer the intensity and sincerity of Jisung’s look.

“Thank you”, he finally said, voice timid. “For saving me.”

Jisung smiled at him, whipping off the last tears from his eyes.

“Any time.”

It was already night, as the sky was shining with infinite stars above their heads. 

The island they were on was the supposed one of the treasure, as they managed to lead the North’s ship not too far from it. Thankfully, they were going to be slowed down because of the Leviathan for a while, and even hopefully losing their fight due to their loss of the seven keys, giving the two navigators enough time to find the artifact.

The map that Minho neatly folded was wet, but he got lucky that his pant’s pocket protected it from the worse. The ink was blurred out because of the water, but not enough to make it not understandable.

They dragged the lifeboat on the sand to avoid losing what was as of now their only way of getting out of this island, Minho helping Jisung with the task despite the younger complaining that he should rest. Having only this boat was far from being ideal, but they’ll deal with it. 

Using Jisung’s compass and the stars shining above their heads, they quickly started to hunt the treasure on the island, Minho even ready to flip every rock if it meant that he would finally be able to put his hand on the eighth key.

Fortunately, the task wasn’t as tremendous. 

Walking along the beach, they ended at the foot of a tall cliff, large rocks blending in with the soft sand. In between the stone, being almost unnoticeable if you weren’t looking for it, was an opening just large enough for one person to fit in.

Jisung and Minho stopped in front of it, exchanging a look. 

“I’ll go first”, Jisung said firmly.

Minho knew he couldn’t protest against him this time, and let him do so.

The stray pirate squeezed in, disappearing in the opening, before letting out a screech of surprise, as he tripped and slipped through the slope that welcomed them at the entrance.

Minho gasped, seeing him disappear. 

“Jisung!”, he called out, before rushing to follow him.

He found the younger one fallen on his butt, rubbing his arm.

“I’m okay!”, he quickly reassured. “I just scared myself.”

Minho relaxed, before offering a hand to pull him back to his feet. Once they were both safely inside, they stopped to look around them.

They were in what seemed to be a big cave, white greenish shining mushrooms they had never seen before lighting it up. A large puddle of water was in front of them. In its middle, perched on a rock to prevent it from being wet, a big treasure chest engraved with dragon shapes immediately caught their attention.

That was it, there was no way to mistake it.

Minho didn’t lose any more time, stepping in the water that raised to his knees, taking big steps that were slowed down by the liquid to reach the chest. 

There was seven keyholes on it.

“Jisung!”, he called back as the other man was following him in the puddle. “Give me the keys.”

Jisung fished in his coat’s inside pocket, the coat that he got back from Minho once the older assured him that he was not cold, before throwing at him the seven shiny keys.

With shaky fingers from anticipation, Minho started turning each key in their right keyhole, indicated by the matching gems on top of each one. Once he finally turned the last one, a loud click echoed and the chest half-opened.

Heart thumping against his eardrums, and with Jisung to his side as he caught up to him, Minho started slowly opening the chest.

Inside, it was filled with golden coins of what was probably some ancient currency, precious stones, and some jewelry. The inside was practically shining from its scintillating content.

Minho felt his heart sink into his chest. It looked like a simple treasure chest. Sure, its content was worth its weight in gold and was the dream of any pirates, but no key in sight. 

Did someone already steal it and replace it?

He didn’t have the time to mull over it any longer as Jisung started to dig his hands into it, pushing aside the shiny coins. Frustrated of not being able to properly push them aside, he took a handful of them before throwing them in the water.

To the navigators' surprise, the coins immediately dissolved as they touched the puddle. 

It was fake.

Minho didn’t hesitate as he took hold of the whole chest, and poured its content in the water. A waterfall of shiny objects cascaded, leaving golden glitters floating behind them.

Once the whole content was poured, and the glitters dissipated, he saw it. 

A silver key, bigger than the seven other ones, with a diamond engraved on it.

Relieved, Minho rushed to grab it, holding it up to show it to Jisung, the eighth key shining in the navigator’s hand. Their journey wasn’t for nothing.

But as soon as they thought that it was finally over, a gunshot ricocheted in the cave.

Eyes wide opened in fear, they turned towards the entrance, where a tall figure was standing at its foot.

Hayes.  

“You two really took me for an idiot, didn’t you?”, he growled, blood covering his face from a deep cut at the top of his forehead. Overall, he wasn’t in a good shape, but he still definitely had enough strength to fight them.

“And I don’t like it when I’m taken for an idiot”, he finished.

“H-How? What about the Leviathan?”, Jisung shrieked. 

“Those king’s boots lickers can go to hell”, spat Hayes. “My men are dealing with them. It was all part of your little plan, right? You thought those fuckers were enough to make us go down?”

“Now that you don’t have the seven keys anymore, yes”, Minho confidently stated, before protectively shielding Jisung by stepping in front of him. His eyes went wide, trying to push back the other navigator, but Minho stayed still.

Hayes' eyes went dark.

“Give them back to me”’ he ordered, aiming his gun at Minho.

Minho had no clue how to get himself out of this terrible situation he, once again, got into. But the thing he knew was that Jisung didn’t deserve to be here, and he would sacrifice himself to the giant if he needed to. He was the one who brought the stray navigator in that situation to start with.

“Without it, your fleet is lost. It’s over for you, Hayes”, he continued.

“Not if I take it back from your dead body.”

Minho’s heart rate was accelerating, but he kept his composure controlled.

“Jisung, be ready to run”, he told him, not loud enough for the North captain to hear.

“W-what?”, Jisung answered in disbelief. “I already told you, I’m not gonna leave you-”

“Jisung, run!”, he shouted at him while pushing the last key against his chest for him to take.

But the two navigators didn’t have the time to do anything else as another gunshot echoed, grazing Hayes’ right ear. 

“One more move, and I won’t miss my next shot”, said a voice from behind Hayes.

“Chan!”, Jisung exclaimed, relief in his voice.

Emerging from the entrance, and with a gun firmly aimed at Hayes, a man with a bandana wrapped on his head to prevent his curly brown hair from falling into his face stepped into the cave.

“Hanging in there, sungie?”, the man presumably called Chan asked, his eyes still fixed on Hayes.

“I wouldn’t be if you came a second later”, Jisung complained.

“Sorry, there was traffic on the road”, the other man joked, with a tone that felt way too casual for the situation he was in.

“I said…”, Hayes started, fuming this whole time. “I hate when I’m taken like an idiot!”

On those words, and in a movement so sudden it took Chan by surprise, he drew his gun at him, one second away from firing.

But the shot never came, or at least, not from his gun.

From the shadow, a third person revealed their presence, shooting away with precision Hayes’ gun, unarming the giant.

“Changbin, now!” the new boy with the gun called, and Hayes noticed too late that he got circled in the shadow without him noticing it.

A shorter, but strongly built man emerged from behind Chan, giving a powerful blow to the back of Hayes' head with the back of an axe.

The man collapsed, passed out, on the ground.

“Changbin, Seungmin!” Jisung called out in joy at the sight of the newcomers, emerging from behind Minho to rush to the other men, jumping to hug them.

Timidly, Minho followed behind him.

“How did you guys find me back?”, Jisung asked, beaming as he looked at his crewmates.

“I told them to track down the place with the most chaos”, the one who must be Seungmin said. “Making them fight the Leviathan? Really?”

“I told them I was gonna make them bite the dust, had to hold to my words”, Jisung proudly answered. Seungmin rolled his eyes.

Minho finally joined back the other, standing in a circle around the inert body of Hayes.

“You should have hit him with the sharp side of your axe instead”, he stated, half-joking.

“I wish, but I can’t”, answered Changbin with a smirk. “This guy’s gonna be our escape ticket from the Leviathan.” 

“Because what did you expect, for us to be able to fight off the whole Leviathan and get you back?”, Chan gently scolded Jisung, flicking a finger at his forehead.

“Ouch!”, Jisung complained, rubbing his forehead. “I knew my hyungs would be clever.”

“There’s a price on Hayes' head, and even if they’re the royal fleet, they can’t catch pirates as they know we would never collaborate to get him if it was to be thrown in jail”, Seungmin explained. “It will be hard to avoid them once we get out of here, but if we hand him, they will let us leave nice and sweet.”

Minho nodded, not displeased to know Hayes will probably end his days rotting in jails. 

“Hum, excuse me but…” Changbin started, seeming hesitant.

“Who are you?”, he continued, turning towards Minho.

Jisung placed an arm around his shoulder, surprising the older navigator.

“That’s Lee Minho!”, he proudly told the rest of his crew.

“Oh, so that’s the guy you always talk about!”, Changbin exclaimed. 

Both navigators’ faces turned pink, neither of them expecting this comment.

“You-!”, Jisung started, before diving at Changbin to hit him in the shoulder. The latter avoided his punch, a playful smirk on his face.

“C’mon kids, let’s not fight already! We should hurry to tie up our dear North’s captain and go back to our ship, our Felix gonna worry too much”, Chan declared, clapping his hand to get their attention.

The ship wasn’t too far from where they left their stolen lifeboat, a little boat already waiting for them to reach it back. Probably the one Chan, Seungmin and Changbin used to get on the beach in the first place.

As soon as they climbed up onto the ship, Jisung got tackled by a long figure in a hug, almost knocking him out on the ground.

“Jisung, you fucking idiot, I thought you were dead!”, the boy with long hair wept.

“Hyunjin!”, Jisung said in surprise from the sudden hug, the man practically crying. 

“It was already surprising enough that they would capture an idiot like you, but keeping that idiot alive...” Hyunjin continued, spitting nonsense in between his sobs.

“H-hey, that’s not how you welcome back someone who survived hell!”, Jisung exclaimed, not knowing whether to feel offended by his words or endeared from his concern. 

“Don’t try to crush him to death”, another boy with fox-like eyes said, gently taking away Hyunjin from Jisung to let him breathe. “He already went through enough already.”

“Jeongin!”, Jisung called, crushing the man who just saved him in a hug.

Minho, who just finished pulling himself up on the boat, was standing shyly, not knowing where to put himself. He felt out of place as he observed the unusual pirate crew welcoming back their lost member. In fact, he didn’t feel like watching a pirate crew, but more like a family welcoming back one of their sons. 

“And you, who are you?”, another boy with freckles on his face curiously asked him, after welcoming back Jisung with the other.

Minho froze, disliking getting everyone's attention all of a sudden.

“That’s Lee Minho”, Chan answered for him.

“Oh, so that’s the guy Jisung always talks about!”, Hyunjin exclaimed, his sobs having fully stopped by now.

Once again, Jisung's face flushed, hitting Hyunjin.

“Don’t listen to them”, he desperately told Minho.

The other pirates continued to tease their navigator, falling back into their easy chemistry. Chan, who he assumed was their captain due to the natural leadership he seemed to have, walked up to the confused pirate.

“So, Lee Minho?”, he started, offering him a comforting smile. “What are your plans?”

“Uh-... My plans?” Minho stuttered, not expecting this question. “I guess I’m gonna have to find a way to go back to the West’s fleet from here”, he said, but without his heart truly following his words.

The captain tilted his head, seeming surprised by his answer.

“You-you wanna go back?”, Jisung asked suddenly, having heard their conversation.

The look of betrayal on his face made Minho feel like he was doing something wrong, making him blink in confusion. Where was he supposed to go?

“Yeah, why don’t you stay with us?”, Felix enthused.

“We know Jisung trusts you, and I’m not doubting his judgement”, Chan continued. “Moreover, we wouldn’t be against having more manpower, but it’s hard finding someone fitting our standards.”

With Chan’s argument, the expecting looks from the rest of the crew and Jisung’s pleading eyes, Minho wasn’t left with much choice.

Not that he complained.

“I guess the West is gonna be mad that they lost me for good”, he finally answered.

Jisung took a few seconds to process his answer, his eyes lighting up when he understood what it meant.

“We got two navigators!”, Jisung cheered, grabbing Minho by his shoulder as he was bouncing in excitement, surprising the older navigator. The latest mirrored his smile, feeling flustered by so much attention from him.

“Wait, will having those two together all the time be a good or a bad thing?”, Hyunjin asked, suddenly realizing the situation.

“Don’t ruin the moment!”, Felix scolded.

🗝

The day after, Hayes got finally handed to the crew of the Leviathan. Much to their disarray, they let the stray pirates go. They were lucky to not be under any clans, making them look less like a threat and easier for the royal fleet to overlook.

Minho got shown around the ship by Jeongin and Jisung, who happily made him discover every corner of it. Overwhelmed by their welcoming, Minho almost felt silly to have criticized Jisung over being a stray pirate. But he had his reasons due to his bad experience with pirates, even if he felt like it was gonna soon change for him.

After filling their stomach with the stew prepared by the crew’s cook, Felix, all pirates were off to their cabins for the night. 

Minho stayed awake, leaning on his elbow against the railing of the upper deck, gazing at the horizon. Once again, the night sky looked beautiful, the moon shining on the sea. Despite the deep water having almost swallowed him whole the last day, the night sea had a calming serenity as moonlight was shining on the peaceful waves.

“So… you’re new on this ship?”, Jisung surprised him, effectively startling him. He could never hear him coming.

Minho smiled, being reminisced of the day where he got thrown in jail with him.

“Oh, by pity, execute me already”, he answered playfully in a fake annoyed tone, mimicking what he said that day.

The younger giggled, before taking place next to him to gaze at the sky too, falling into a comfortable silence.

After a few moments, Jisung was the first one to break it.

“What are you gonna do with the keys?”

Minho took a few seconds to answer. He could feel the weight of the keys in his pocket, Jisung having given them back to him, judging that he should be the one making this decision.

He took them, his eyes laying on the precious artifacts. The moonlight was glowing upon the keys, making tentatively shine their gems. Minho clutched them in his fist, before pulling his arm back and throwing them as far as he could into the sea.

Jisung watched him do, mouth slightly agape at the gesture.

“No one will need them anymore”, Minho affirmed.

The other pirate nodded in agreement, eyes laid on the point where the key sank, their shining disappearing in the deep sea. His heart felt at ease. 

“Together, we stripped down the North from the seven keys, recovered the eighth and got Hayes thrown to the wolves for the Leviathan”, Jisung started.

He turned his face towards Minho, beaming at him.

“Symphonia will maybe be able to finally find back its stability. Bards will sing tails about us!”, he finished dramatically.

Minho giggled at his words. “I can already see the name, “The Beauty and the Beast”.”

“Hey! Who are you calling a beast?”, Jisung said while laughing, not really taking offence for it.

“You, and your flashy red coat. But I’m flattered you immediately assumed I was the beauty.”

Jisung opened and closed his mouth, pink dusting in his cheeks. “Still, that’s not how you should talk to your knight in shining armour who saved your life”, Jisung continued in a fake offended tone.

“I saved your life too when Igor was about to beat your noisy ass, that makes us even.”

“As far as I know, I saved your life twice! When you nearly drown, and when Beck wanted to take revenge on you.”

“You didn’t save my life back then, I was handling him perfectly fine”, tried to brush off Minho.

“Please, his gun was literally shoved in your face! You should be thankful I sensed something was wrong with him at the meeting and followed him when we left to make sure he was not gonna hurt you…”, Jisung trailed, before realizing what he just said. “Wait, not that like, I already had an interest in you or anything, I mean I don’t mean already but just in general! I was just worried and…”

“Jisung?”

“... Yeah?”

“Shut up.”

Minho planted his lips on Jisung’s, efficiently shutting him up as his eyes widened in surprise, before timidly giving in the kiss.

After a few seconds that they wished could stretch into eternity, Minho pulled back, keeping his face only a few centimetres apart from Jisung’s. The latest slowly opened his eyes, before his face lit up in his big signature heart-shaped smile.

“My knight in shining armour”, Minho said sweetly, an expression of pure fondness painted on his face, the two boys in their own little world.

“Get a room!”

Their bubble got popped and the two navigators jumped away from each other in surprise, turning around to see three pairs of eyes looking at them from a corner. Well, more like four pairs, but one being hidden by someone’s hand.

“Changbin! I’m not a kid!”, Jeongin complained while trying to take off the hands of the older as they were pressed against his eyes.

“My little sungie is getting so grown-up”, Chan said while wiping off an imaginary tear from his eye.

“My knight in shining armour ”, Hyunjin mimicked as he made fun of them, the long-haired pirate being the one who revealed their presence by speaking up.

“G-guys!”, Jisung weakly protested, face noticeably heating up.

Minho was completely frozen in his spot, his ears feeling like they were going to melt from burning so much.

“Alright kids, we should let our love birds in peace”, Chan declared while giggling, starting to push the little public away.

“Way to go sungie!”, Changbin shouted at the younger while sending him a thumbs up.

A few seconds later, they were off the deck, leaving Minho and Jisung alone for good this time.

Jisung’s head fell against the railing, letting out a pained-out sound that was probably supposed to be a sort of sigh. 

“I’m gonna kill them”, he declared.

Minho smiled, his heart thumping pleasantly in his chest. He grabbed Jisung's hand, squeezing it tenderly. The younger raised his head before beaming back at him, worries melting like the moonlight on the waves once he locked eyes with the other man. 

Maybe being a pirate wasn’t so bad.

Fin