Archive of Our Own ^beta

”H-Hyunjin?”

The name felt foreign on Seungmin’s tongue. Three years had passed since the last time he had muttered out that name. Three years had passed since he had let go of that name.

“Hyunjin?” Seungmin could feel the weight of the world around him. He felt like suffocating. His blade clattered against the deck, but Seungmin couldn’t hear it. He could only hear his heart, his blood thrumming through his veins.

This wasn’t real. This couldn’t be real. His mind was playing tricks on him. Dead people didn’t just suddenly rise from their graves, no matter how watery. No. Hyunjin was dead. Seungmin had seen Hyunjin die, he had felt how life had left his body after the explosion of Euryale.

But there he was. Surrounded by dead bodies, each painting the decks red. Clutching on to the railing, shielding himself against the world.

Seungmin took a step forward, then another. This wasn’t real. But there he was, his mind may have played tricks on him multiple times for the past three years, but his eyes never deceived him. There he was, so familiar, yet so…
“Hyunjin?” Seungmin could feel his voice getting louder. He could feel the deck underneath him, he could hear the waves, he could hear the sails, this was real, he was present, he wasn’t asleep. This was real. The bundle of a person, collapsed next to the railing, trembled.

“Seungmin- Seungmin, don’t!” Seungmin heard the voice from somewhere far away, but he didn’t care, he was in a hurry, he was- this wasn’t a dream, this wasn’t one of the nightmares where he chased after the shadow of Hyunjin through the streets of Tortuga, through the many decks of the ship, always three steps behind, no, he was there, in front of him, Seungmin would have recognized him anywhere, at any given time. He nearly slipped on the bloodied decks, Hyunjin had his head low, he didn’t look up, he didn’t, he wasn’t-
“Seungmin! Watch out!” Seungmin didn’t listen, he couldn’t listen, he crouched down, he had to make sure, he had to make sure this wasn’t a dream, that this wasn’t nightmare-

Hyunjin flinched violently away just as Seungmin reached for his shoulder. He sprung up from the floor and Seungmin’s eyes met Hyunjin’s eyes, and never ever had he seen them so unfamiliar. They were red, blood red, and so full of anger Seungmin felt like drowning in it. Then something swished right in front of Seungmin’s face, and his cheek flared up in pain. He jerked backwards, fell on his back, his body acting before his mind as he kicked away from the immediate danger. This wasn’t Hyunjin. This wasn’t his Hyunjin. This was… the Hyunjin from his nightmares.
“Hyunjin! Hyunjin, it’s me!” Seungmin tried, he could hear the fear in his voice. This wasn’t real. It couldn’t be real, no, this wasn’t Hyunjin, he had been wrong, he had been so wrong-

Something, someone tackled the siren just as he was about to lunge at Seungmin. The two collided against the deck, Seungmin could hear a nearly animalistic snarl leaving from Hyunjin’s throat as that someone took his wrists and pinned them against the floor. Everything happened in slow-motion right in front of Seungmin’s eyes. He couldn’t… he couldn’t process.

“Hyunjin! Hyunjin! It’s over!”
Seungmin recognized that voice. He had heard it, three years ago, and never again after that.

Felix.

Felix was here? But he was supposed to be in Nassau!

“Hyunjin! It’s me, Felix!”
Seungmin watched as the siren underneath Felix kicked and thrashed and tried to claw his way out. He could feel blood slowly trickling down on his own face, but the pain was secondary now, he couldn’t feel it, he could only feel the urge to stand up and pull Hyunjin away from whatever haze he was in. He wanted Hyunjin to recognize him. He wanted to-

“Hyunjin, come back. It’s over, we’re not in danger.” Slowly, slowly, Hyunjin stopped moving, only trying to claw on the hands keeping him in one place.
“Hyunjin. Come back to me, we’re not in danger. You are not in danger. You are safe.” Safe. There was never safety on the seas. Felix’s voice was steady, soothing, from the corner of his eye Seungmin could see a familiar figure approaching. He knew it was Changbin, but couldn’t tear his eyes away from the two boys on the floor in front of him.
“H-Hyunjin?” The broken whisper left Seungmin’s lips, as if to call the boy out from the darkness.

Hyunjin stilled. Seungmin could hear a shaky breath, followed by a “F-Felix.”

Something inside of Seungmin flared up. He had heard that voice last time three years ago. And he had thought it would be the last time he’d ever hear it.

Felix let go of Hyunjin, scrambled back up. Hyunjin didn’t move, not yet.
“Hyunjin?” Seungmin whispered again. He watched as Hyunjin got himself under control again, as he stood up with shaky legs, searching, searching something, anything to ground himself on. Hyunjin was covered in blood, his hands were dripping with it, his white shirt was soaked.
“Hyunjin?” Seungmin repeated, slowly gaining more confidence in his voice.
“Seungmin?” He heard the name leaving the siren’s lips with a whimper. It opened a gate inside of Seungmin, it opened a gate that had been keeping the flood about to engulf Seungmin barricaded inside of him for the last three years. With shaky legs he stood up, slowly, Hyunjin’s eyes weren’t still on him, they were unfocused, he was visibly shivering.

“Hyunjin. It’s me”, Seungmin whispered, lifting his hands in front of him in a defensive manner, if Hyunjin would still be too far in the darkness.

And finally, finally the haze in Hyunjin’s eyes seemed to disappear, and the gaze focused on Seungmin. Those eyes, so warm and gentle, the familiar brown, the ones Seungmin had fallen for over three years ago. The red had finally seeped out of them.
“S-Seungmin”, Hyunjin whispered, eyes welling up with tears. Seungmin could feel all of the guards around him falling one by one. He took a careful step forward, another, Hyunjin didn’t back away, he simply stared at Seungmin and shivered from head to toe, third step and finally he closed the distance in between him and Hyunjin and pulled him into a hug, a hug in which he poured all of the longing and grief he had felt for the last three years.

Slowly, but surely, Hyunjin wrapped his arms around Seungmin, before Seungmin could feel him breaking down.
“I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry”, he whimpered against Seungmin’s shoulder, and Seungmin couldn’t do anything but shake his head. Hyunjin was here. Hyunjin was in his arms. He was in his arms, he wasn’t dead, this wasn’t a nightmare, this was reality. Hyunjin was here. He was alive. Bloodied, battered, but alive. He was alive.
“Hyunjin”, Seungmin whispered, and it was only now that he realized he was crying.
“I- I- I’m sorry, I- I thought you were- I thought you were dead and and and I thought you were trying to kill me and- I’m sorry I-“
Seungmin squeezed Hyunjin closer to him, he couldn’t- he couldn’t-
“I thought you were dead”, he whispered against Hyunjin’s temple, just as lost as the siren in his arms.
“I’msorryI’msorryI’msorry”, Hyunjin spluttered, hugging Seungmin so tight he felt like bursting. Neither of them was really listening, too caught up in the fact that the other one was alive.

As Jisung walked up to the gangway leading to the ship, Seungmin seemed to come back to his senses, to his surroundings.
“It’s alright, Hyunjin, it’s alright”, Seungmin hugged him before pulling away just so he could take Hyunjin’s face in his hands, to take a good look at what he had forgot in three years. Not much, Seungmin realized as he stared into Hyunjin’s eyes, tears streaming down his face. The tears mixed up with the blood splatters on Hyunjin’s skin, Seungmin’s fingers only smearing them more. A few scars more. The structure of his face had got stronger. He had lost the innocence he still had had three years ago, that was visible from his eyes.
“I can’t, I- I’m-“ Hyunjin blabbered, Seungmin shook his head, pulled him into another hug. That’s all he could do. That’s all he knew to do. He was going to hold on so tight he’d never, ever have to let go of the boy again.

Seungmin heard a gasp that he recognized to be Jisung’s from the other side of the deck. He knew he’d have to let go, just for a moment, Hyunjin would have to see that they all, all of them were alive, that they had all survived the explosion.
“Hyunjin?” Jisung mumbled, Hyunjin stilled for a second in Seungmin’s embrace before lifting his head to look at the boy next to them. He let out a garbled cry before letting go of Seungmin and throwing himself into another pair of awaiting arms.
“You’re- alive- I-“ Seungmin could hear Hyunjin hiccupping. The surprise in Jisung’s eyes mirrored Seungmin’s own. They had all thought Hyunjin was dead. They had known that Felix was still alive and in Nassau, but they had truly, all of them, thought that Hyunjin was dead and resting in his watery grave.

Hyunjin was full on sobbing now, his words an incoherent mumble, soon he let go of Jisung only to return back to Seungmin and Seungmin had his arms full of Hyunjin again, and then a scream of joy filled the air and Seungmin watched Jeongin run to the deck of the ship they had just heisted. The ship that had had Felix and Hyunjin aboard. The people started to move, Seungmin knew they were carrying the cargo back to Calliope, but he couldn’t do anything but hug Hyunjin and wonder if this was all real.

Jeongin let go of Felix, before running to Seungmin, Hyunjin and Jisung. If Jisung had looked surprised, then Jeongin seemed nearly shocked, before understanding flashed over his face. His eyes moved to Seungmin, and Seungmin knew exactly what Jeongin meant. He was the only one Seungmin had opened his heart to after Hyunjin had… died. He was the only one Seungmin had said anything to, he was the only one who had heard of his grieving, his loss, his yearning and wishes to go back. If someone were to understand how Seungmin felt right now, then it was Jeongin.

“Hello, little siren”, Jeongin’s expression melted as he reached to tug a strand of hair away from Hyunjin’s face, all puffy and swollen. It took a moment for Hyunjin to recognize Jeongin, and then he threw his hands around the mermaid boy, sobbing. It was going to take a long time to console him, Seungmin could feel it.

After a moment Jeongin let go of Hyunjin, practically pushing him back to Seungmin. Instead of engulfing him in a hug again, Seungmin took the boy’s face in his hands, made him look into his eyes. He’d have to at least get him back to their own ship, since Chan was most likely going to sink the one they were heisting, as they always did with after a heist.
“Hey, are you with me?” Seungmin whispered softly. Hyunjin wrapped his slender fingers around Seungmin’s wrists, clearly trying to contain his sobs. After a moment he nodded.
“Can you walk?”
Another nod, Chan ordered Jisung to go help the other crew, Jeongin took Hyunjin’s hand and Seungmin knew exactly what he was doing – feeling a small part of Hyunjin’s feelings for him, just to clear his head for a moment. He felt Hyunjin’s feelings for him, because he didn’t have his own like the others did. Mermaids didn’t feel. But Jeongin was only partially a mermaid, so he still had some feelings, just… not as intense as mere humans. And he used that to help those around him.

Somehow the three of them got over the gangway and into their ship. Calliope, just as Changbin had insisted on naming it. Seungmin’s eyes met Minho’s, he was standing in the shadows. After a moment of eye contact, he shook his head. Hyunjin was overwhelmed. He had to get his head clear before meeting Minho and Chan, especially Minho, since Minho had changed quite a lot in the past three years, and that could have been too much for Hyunjin and get his siren senses alert again. Seungmin pulled Hyunjin close to him, again, pressed his forehead against his shoulder and closed the rest of the world away for a moment.

Hyunjin was alive. He was alive and breathing, a little broken, but he was alive. Against all odds, against all sense and laws of the world, he was alive. And he was in Seungmin’s arms. Three years had passed, and now he was here. Three years, and nothing, yet everything had changed.

“Seungmin.”
Seungmin opened his eyes, he recognized the voice to be Chan’s. Chan handed him a ring of keys.
“Take my cabin for tonight. We’ll get you two a room tomorrow.”

***

Chan’s cabin was as expected to be – a bit messy, books and scrolls of maps were scattered everywhere, the bed hadn’t been made, some of the lanterns around the tables and surfaces were lit, some were not. The huge desk in the middle of the room hadn’t been cleared up as the call to heist had come with haste. The curtains had been pulled in front of the doors leading out to the balcony. The cabin was bigger than any of the other cabins on the ship, Chan was, after all, the captain. Seungmin, Hyunjin in his arms, made his way to the alcove at the far end of the room and lowered Hyunjin on the bed. Paintings on the walls, brown and green and gold, matching with the sails of the ship. But none of those details mattered to Seungmin, not right now.

Seungmin kneeled in front of Hyunjin, still shaking, still sniffling, eyes filled with tears. Seungmin reached forwards, wiped a few tears off of his face, and Hyunjin leaned into his touch. Seungmin didn’t know what to feel. He felt everything at the same time and that made him feel numb. He was shocked. Absolutely appalled. He was overwhelmed. He was at a loss for words.

And then there was this feeling that Seungmin hadn’t felt in three years. He couldn’t name it, but it felt like bubbling in his chest, it wanted to break free and flow into the world. But Seungmin didn’t let it, he took Hyunjin’s hands and squeezed them, as if to make sure that this wasn’t just another one of his nightmares that would leave him aching in the morning.

“Why are you here?” Hyunjin stammered, voice shaking. Seungmin opened his mouth, closed it, he didn’t have an answer, he didn’t know where to begin.
“I, I thought you, you all were-“
“We aren’t.”
Hyunjin swallowed.
“We survived the explosion. I thought… I thought you were… gone”, Seungmin whimpered, he could feel the tears gathering in the corners of his eyes again. He couldn’t say it out loud. He couldn’t say the truth out loud. I thought you were dead. I bid you goodbyes on that piece of hull I dragged you onto after Felix’s father exploded our ship. I watched the tides pull you with them to your watery grave. I thought you were dead. But you are not.
Hyunjin shook his head.
“I- I- I woke up. I was on a… I don’t know. Somewhere. And a ship picked me up.”

Seungmin could feel his insides wrenching.
“I thought… we thought you were all gone.” We thought. Hyunjin and Felix. “Is Felix okay?” Hyunjin seemed to suddenly perk up from his memories.
“Yes. He’s with Changbin.”
“Changbin is alive, too?” Hyunjin croaked.
“Yes. All of us are. We are in Chan’s cabin right now.”
“A-and Minho?”
“Yes, Minho, too.”

Hyunjin’s lower lip quivered again.
“You’re all alive. I thought I, we thought we were alone.”
Seungmin could feel the knot in his throat getting bigger, it was harder to breathe moment by moment. He had done this. If he had just… if he had just held on, none of this would have happened.
“I know”, he only whispered. He didn’t- he didn’t know what to do. He wanted to hold Hyunjin. He wanted to whisper sweet nothings in his ear and hold him, but he didn’t… He wasn’t sure if he could. He wasn’t sure if he deserved that.

A knock came from the door, Hyunjin flinched, Seungmin could see the flash of red in his eyes.
“Hey, it’s alright, it’s alright, it’s just Chan, he’s the captain and we’re in his cabin”, Seungmin reminded Hyunjin.
“I’m going to go see what he has to say, okay? You’re safe here, Hyunjin.”
It hurt Seungmin so much to see Hyunjin in that condition. He had always been so careful of his siren side, always keeping it at bay, even at a battle. But now it was… Seungmin couldn’t fathom what had driven him to the point that he felt the need to protect himself at all times.

Seungmin waited for Hyunjin to nod before he let go of his hands and rose to his feet. He made his way to the door, cracked it open. He was surprised to see Changbin behind the door instead of Chan.
“Is he alright?” The quartermaster asked, before handing Seungmin a bucket of water, rags, gauze and a new set of clothes that would fit Hyunjin.
“Physically probably yes but otherwise not really”, Seungmin mumbled and Changbin nodded.
“If you need anything, just ask Chan, he’s going to stay up to oversee… us. Everyone.”
“Alright. Go back to your loverboy”, Seungmin cracked a slight smile to Changbin. Yeah, it wasn’t only Seungmin that had got the love of his life back tonight.
“Will do”, Changbin laughed. Seungmin could see the glimmer of happiness in his eyes as he closed the door. Seungmin took all of the things Changbin had handed him and dragged them over to Hyunjin.

“Who was it?” Hyunjin asked, quietly. He was hugging himself, trying to keep himself composed, Seungmin could see that.
“Changbin.”
“Can I see him?”
Seungmin shook his head. It wasn’t a good idea, Hyunjin was way too overwhelmed: “You’ll see him tomorrow, he went back to Felix.”
Hyunjin nodded.
“I’ll have to check if you have any injuries and clean you up, Hyunjin”, Seungmin mumbled then and sat on the bed next to him. He noticed how Hyunjin flinched away just ever so slightly, before pressing against Seungmin again. This was why Seungmin was being so careful. He didn’t know if Hyunjin’s siren half would suddenly deem the situation as dangerous and lash out again. And he hated that. He hated that he couldn’t fully trust Hyunjin as he had done before.

Seungmin took one of the rags, wet it in the bucket of water and took Hyunjin’s hand.
“Do you feel any pain? Were you hurt?” he asked, looking right into Hyunjin’s eyes. Hyunjin shook his head, and overall Seungmin couldn’t see any places on him that were drenched with blood. Except for his hands. And that blood wasn’t his own.

Seungmin started cleaning Hyunjin’s hands, one finger after another. Hyunjin went quiet, and as Seungmin glanced at his face, he noticed that Hyunjin was staring at his hands, eyes a little cloudy.
“I’ve hurt so many people again…” He whispered, and dear god, did those words wrench Seungmin’s heart. “I’m so sorry…”
“It’s not your fault”, Seungmin mumbled, carefully cleaning the mostly dried blood off of Hyunjin’s hands. There were a few smaller cuts, mostly healed, along with blisters Seungmin knew came from cleaning the decks all day. What had Hyunjin done on that ship? Where had he and Felix been going? It hadn’t been a pirate ship, it had sailed underneath a crown’s flag.

It didn’t matter. Hyunjin was here, right now, and Seungmin was cleaning the blood off of his hands, blood that most likely belonged to the members of his own crew, but Seungmin could really care less right now. He was the odd one out, anyway. The quiet one, who was bad at making new friends. He had lost all interest in that three years ago.

Hyunjin sniffled, Seungmin took Hyunjin’s other hand, there was blood all over his shirt, too. There was a lot of it on Seungmin most likely as well. Seungmin cleaned Hyunjin’s hands the best he could, but it would take a brush to get all of the blood from underneath his fingernails. Seungmin did a quick checkup on the rest of Hyunjin’s body, but found no injuries, apart from a few bruises that looked old, and an old gauze that had been wrapped over his torso.
“Is this healing well?” Seungmin asked. He didn’t want to hear where Hyunjin had got whatever was underneath that gauze. Not right now, not today. Hyunjin nodded.

Seungmin untied Hyunjin’s shirt and helped him to put on a new one that someone, probably Chan had found for him from the storages. The white of the shirt only enhanced how… pale Hyunjin was. Not pale, as in, it could be seen that he spent his days underneath the sun, but he seemed like he was drained from all of the sunlight he had gathered inside of him. Like the sun had flamed out from inside of him. It hurt Seungmin, god, did it hurt him. If he had only… held on to the raft, he wouldn’t have to… watch Hyunjin suffer like this.

Seungmin tugged a few strands of hair, lumpy with blood behind Hyunjin’s ear. He’d have to get him properly cleaned up tomorrow, but right now Hyunjin needed sleep and to get to know his surroundings and to see that there were no dangers on this ship. Seungmin took yet another rag that hadn’t yet been soaked with blood and started cleaning Hyunjin’s neck and face. With soft, tender touches he slowly got rid of the splatter on Hyunjin’s cheeks, as well as the tear stains.

Hyunjin’s hands wrapped softly around Seungmin’s wrists and Seungmin stopped. He realized Hyunjin was staring right at him, eyes focused again, not cloudy as moments before.
“Are you really here?” Hyunjin whispered, so close to Seungmin it almost scared him.
“Yes”, Seungmin whispered back. He noticed how Hyunjin’s eyes wandered around his face, stopping on his lips.
“You haven’t changed at all”, a slight, just a tiny smile tugged the corner of Hyunjin’s mouth.
“You have. Your hair is longer”, Seungmin muttered. He didn’t say more. A lot had changed. There were a lot more edges on Hyunjin, there were scars on his face. There was a wild, almost feral look in his eyes every time he looked elsewhere from Seungmin.

A light giggle escaped Hyunjin’s lips, and Seungmin knew he had broken through the first barrier. There were still a lot of barriers to overcome, but the first one had been taken down. Something very familiar fluttered inside of his chest, just slightly, and it almost scared him, it had been so long since he had felt it. Somewhere deep inside of those layers was the Hyunjin Seungmin knew, the always laughing, the sunlight in the room, the one Seungmin had fallen in love with. The current Hyunjin in front of him was somewhat of a shadow, still Hyunjin, but still… not.

“I’ve missed you so much”, Seungmin blurted out. It felt like some sort of a confession. He let his eyes wander, he let the rag in his hands fall as with light fingers he touched Hyunjin’s skin, before cupping his face.
“I’ve missed you, too.” A tear rolled down Hyunjin’s cheek, Seungmin swiped it away with his thumb. He wasn’t entirely sure which one of them reached for the other first, but the next thing he knew was that his lips were pressing against Hyunjin’s, and his other arm wrapped around his waist, pulling him closer. His eyes fluttered close as he let himself be engulfed by Hyunjin’s presence, he let himself relax against him, just for a moment. And he could feel Hyunjin relaxing, too, as the kiss deepened and Seungmin tilted his head, just a bit. Somehow the reality of the situation set in at that moment, not in an overwhelming crash, but by seeping into his bones and into his heart. Hyunjin was here. Hyunjin was in his arms, and he was alive.

Seungmin was the first one to pull back, but not too far. He pressed his forehead against Hyunjin’s, he heard Hyunjin take in a shuddering breath.
“If this is a dream, please don’t wake me up”, he mumbled. Seungmin shook his head, just slightly.
“It’s not.” And Seungmin truly hoped it wasn’t.

He could hear steps from outside, something being hauled over the decks. It was night, so the crew would most likely go to sleep soon, and Seungmin hoped Luisa, the other cook, would be able to take care of the breakfast tomorrow, because he knew he would not be able to leave Hyunjin, not today, most likely not tomorrow, either. Hyunjin let go of Seungmin’s hand and wrapped his arm around Seungmin’s waist, let his head fall down on his shoulder. Seungmin kept him there, caressing his back, skimming over the cotton of the shirt and the gauze underneath it.

“Are you tired?” Seungmin mumbled. His heart was aching for more kisses, but he’d get them tomorrow, if he’d deem himself deserving enough. He could feel Hyunjin nodding against his shoulder.
“It’s late, we can sleep here. I’ll show you the ship tomorrow.”

***

Seungmin woke up to knocks on the door and had to pry Hyunjin off of himself to get up and dash to open the door. Chan was behind it, holding a tray filled with breakfast.
“How is he?” The captain asked. Seungmin suddenly felt the reality of the situation hit him with the power of a thousand suns. Hyunjin was here. And he was alive.
“Sleeping. He’s… a mess. Kept waking up through the night., He has some older wounds, but it looks like he wasn’t injured last night.” Seungmin croaked.
Chan nodded, Seungmin took the tray from him.
“How’s everyone? Were… many people hurt?”
“Two dead. One had his eyes dug out. A few are injured, by the bladework I’m guessing by Felix’s hands. Otherwise everyone’s fine, Changbin and Felix are still sleeping.”
Uh oh.
“Luisa?”
“She’s doing fine, Seungmin. Don’t worry, just focus on your little siren. Luisa said she’s managing just fine without you for now. And Jeongin can help her if it gets too busy.”
Seungmin nodded.

Then he heard a grunt from behind him and turned around. Hyunjin opened his eyes, Seungmin could see a flash of panic continued by a flash of red in his eyes. Seungmin thrusted the tray back to Chan quickly as Hyunjin sprung up from the bed.
“Hyunjin. Hyunjin, it’s me, Seungmin.”
Seungmin watched as Hyunjin, with nearly an animalistic look on his face followed his voice, tilted his head just a little, as if trying to understand if he was in danger or not.
“Hyunjin, you are not in danger, you are in Chan’s cabin, remember? We… We met last night, you were on Liberty, and now you’re on Calliope.”
The red seeped out of Hyunjin’s eyes as he finally recognized his surroundings. Seungmin could visibly see it – the change from the strong, ruthless siren to a trembling little human.

Hyunjin’s eyes shifted from Seungmin to Chan, it seemed like he didn’t really know what to do with himself.
“C-Chan?” he whispered, and as Seungmin could guess what was about to happen, he took the tray again from Chan and watched as with a few swift steps Hyunjin closed the distance between himself and the captain and engulfed him into a hug so tight Chan appeared to have problems with breathing for a second. And again, Hyunjin was crying. Seungmin set the tray on the desk in the middle of the room, listened to Chan mumbling a few “hey, hey, heys” into Hyunjin’s hair.
“I can’t believe you’re alive”, Hyunjin whispered against the captain’s shoulder.
“I can’t believe you’re alive either”, Chan muttered and Hyunjin finally let go.
“What happened to your eye?”
Chan’s right eye was covered with an eyepatch.
“The explosion happened. It looks gruesome, believe me, you don’t want to see it.”
Seungmin could remember it, how in pain Chan had been as they had hung on to the pieces of hull and waited for a ship that could rescue them. Fresh wounds and saltwater were not a delightful combo, Chan had nearly passed out from the pain a few times. He would have, if it hadn’t been Jeongin holding on to him the whole time.

Hyunjin pouted, Chan took the keys Seungmin had left on the little table beside the door.
“I have to go to oversee the others, we’re going through last night’s booty. Take your time, no need to rush. We have nothing but time in the world right now, we haven’t decided on the heading yet.”
Chan closed the door after himself, leaving Hyunjin and Seungmin alone again. It didn’t take much time at all for Hyunjin to pull Seungmin in a hug again. Then he poked Seungmin’s face, brushed his fingers through his hair, skimmed over the fabric of his shirt.
“You’re real”, he mumbled, eyes much clearer than last night.
“I am”, Seungmin could feel his heart thrumming through his chest. With careful fingers he brushed over the little scars on Hyunjin’s face.
“Am I still dreaming?” Hyunjin whispered. Seungmin shook his head, just slightly, before giving him a small kiss on his lips.
“No, you’re not.” Seungmin himself had somewhat of a hard time accepting reality right now, or the fact that he wasn’t dreaming and the nightmares weren’t going to take Hyunjin away once again, because this was real and Hyunjin was standing right in front of him.

Because Seungmin was still somewhat sensible and clearly in touch with reality a little better than Hyunjin, he led Hyunjin to the sofa by the balcony and sat him down, before fetching the tray. Hyunjin needed to eat. And Seungmin needed to eat. So they ate. In silence. Just staring at each other, Hyunjin’s eyes wandered around the room occasionally, Seungmin could tell he was familiarizing himself with his surroundings, and minute by minute he seemed to relax. Just to tense up again as something outside clanked. Had he been like this before? Seungmin would have to ask Felix. Although, he didn’t even know how long they had traveled together after… the explosion. After Felix had been taken away by his father and his father had taken everything away from their crew. Seungmin had so many questions, he didn’t even… he didn’t even know where to begin.

Hyunjin did, clearly, after he had got his breakfast down.
“Where are we?” he asked.
“On a ship. She’s called Calliope. We built it after we ended up in Singapore after the explosion.”
“How did you… end up in there?”
“It’s a very long story, and I’ll tell it to you a little later.” Seungmin was not ready to handle his emotions over letting go of Hyunjin. He was not ready to confess his mistake.
“Do we…? Is everyone…? What-?”
“We don’t have a heading right now, but we’ll most likely stop by Tortuga at some point. Everyone is alive. Minho and Changbin, too, even if you didn’t see them last night.”
Hyunjin nodded.

“Oh, and, just so you know, Minho has changed. A lot. He’s a witch.”
“He’s a what?!”
“Yes. White streaks and all that, and he has an owl called Viola.”
Witches always had those, either black crosses or white crosses under their eyes. Black didn’t mean anything good, white marks told of pure magic, which was good, or that’s how Minho had explained it. Minho had the little white x-markings running down his throat and his fingers, as well. The more prominent they were, the stronger the witch was. And Minho’s little x-marks were visible as hell.
“Are he and Jisung…?”
“Yes. Practically married. Ended up together after the explosion, we found them from Tortuga not many months ago. Inseparable nowadays.” Seungmin could remember it, oh, he did, how he and Hyunjin had spent nights together at the helm of the ship, wondering when Jisung would finally get his shit together and do something about his crush on Minho. He finally had, during the two and a half years they had been separated from their crew.
“…Oh.”
“Mmhm.”

“How about… the others?”
Seungmin swallowed, before he shook his head. He watched as a slight sadness took over Hyunjin’s features.
“No one but us made it. Most people were dead before the explosion, anyway. Felix’s father’s crew was ruthless. Pretty sure we all would have died if it wasn’t for… Felix stepping up and begging for our life.”
Hyunjin nodded, before shuffling a bit closer to Seungmin. Seungmin wrapped his arm around Hyunjin’s shoulders, pulling him closer. Talking about loss had always made Hyunjin sad. He didn’t take it well. But somehow he had stood next to Seungmin all the weeks after Seungmin’s mother had drowned during that one terrible storm years ago, he had let Seungmin cry on his shoulder and grieved with him. He had done that to Seungmin. And Seungmin had just pushed him away because he was the absolute worst at handling his emotions. That fact hadn’t changed during all of these years. Or well, it wasn’t like he was bad at handling them, he just… didn’t know how to talk about them.

But Hyunjin hadn’t backed off. He had kept on coming back to Seungmin, insisting on keeping him company during the darkest hours, every single time Seungmin had pushed him away, he had come back, until he had had enough and just bursted in front of Seungmin. Seungmin could remember it, it had been one of those nights where Seungmin hadn’t been able to sleep, and he had gone to the ship’s kitchen to clean the pots and pans they had, just to get his mind somewhere else. It had happened after Felix’s arrival, that Seungmin could remember, even if the years and happenings had started to blend together in the three years of his grief. Hyunjin had followed after Seungmin, they had got into a little argument that once again had had everything to do with Seungmin pushing Hyunjin away, and Hyunjin had bursted. He had had enough, he had yelled at Seungmin that if he so much disliked him then this was the time to say it, if he so much didn’t want him around, then this was the time to say it. Seungmin had said nothing, just stood there, a pot in his hand and a rag in the other as Hyunjin had stormed off. Somehow the sight of Hyunjin leaving had broken a dam inside of Seungmin and set him off, and then he had yelled at Hyunjin that he was sorry and that it wasn’t his fault, and he didn’t want him to go away. He had done that, almost sobbing on the floor because all of the emotions had been too much back then to handle. Then Hyunjin had knelt down next to him and pulled him into a hug, and Seungmin had sobbed on his shoulders that everything he touched, shattered, and he didn’t want that to happen to Hyunjin. Hyunjin had kissed him after that, and told him that he could never shatter him.

But that was exactly what he had done, wasn’t it? Seungmin had shattered Hyunjin. Hyunjin had always been the strong one, one with the wind and the waves, always bursting with happiness, and now he was only a trembling memory of that. Now Seungmin was the strong one, and he had shattered Hyunjin by letting go of him.
“What are you thinking?”
Seungmin blinked a few times, returned back to reality, where Hyunjin was leaning against his shoulder. He was more sculpted, if not too sculpted, he had clearly lost weight, his black hair was tied to a messy ponytail at the back of his head. There was still some dried blood on it. He looked like a shadow of himself. Seungmin had done it. It was his fault.
“I’m just glad that you’re here”, Seungmin whispered. A little smile tugged the corners of Hyunjin’s mouth, before he leaned in for a kiss. It still felt odd. It felt foreign. It didn’t feel like Seungmin deserved it. Yet still, he answered to the kiss, let himself be engulfed by it.

“I want to see the ship”, Hyunjin mumbled against Seungmin’s lips. “And the others.”
“Alright.”
Seungmin rose up from the sofa.
“The other crew is out there, too”, he reminded Hyunjin. Hyunjin looked confused for a moment.
“I sure would hope so since this is a rather big ship.”
“No, I just… you’ve been through a lot. And you were quite shaken last night. Just know that no one on this ship is going to hurt you and that I will be beside you the whole time, alright?”
Hyunjin swallowed before nodding. He took Seungmin’s hand in his, remained quiet for a few moments.
“Did I… hurt someone last night?” His voice had turned a little shaky. Seungmin breathed in, he couldn’t keep secrets from Hyunjin, not when he knew it was better for him to hear it from Seungmin than anyone else.
“Two members of our crew died, but there is not knowing of who killed them. A few were injured, most likely by Felix. One… one had his eyes dug out, but he’s alive and Jeongin is helping him.”
Seungmin could feel it, how Hyunjin tensed up, how danger seemed to lurk a little closer. He closed his eyes, just breathed, before nodding. Seungmin squeezed his hand.
“It’s alright, I’m sure he will understand. You were only protecting yourself.”
Hyunjin opened his eyes and nodded again. Seungmin could see it in his eyes, he only did that for Seungmin.

“Alright, let’s go, then. I’ll show you your new home.”

***

The two of them didn’t get far on the quarter deck as Jisung was on the helm and Hyunjin instantly ran to hug him again. This time he didn’t burst out to tears immediately, but Seungmin could see the light glimmer in the corners of his eyes. Seungmin had a feeling that it would take quite some time for Hyunjin to get used to everything around him. Especially the fact that he wasn’t in constant danger anymore.

Or well. They were on the seas. They were always in danger.

As Hyunjin let go of Jisung and Jisung got his hands back on the helm again, Hyunjin spotted his next target who had seemingly just arrived from the front of the ship, hand in hand. He let out a squeak as he rushed down the stairs to the main deck and lunged himself right into Changbin’s embrace. Seungmin followed close behind, noticed the few curious looks they got from the other crewmembers. And Hyunjin was crying again, sobbing against Changbin’s shoulder, as was expected. The two of them had known each other for ages.
“Felix”, Seungmin smiled and nodded at the boy next to Changbin. He had grown. A lot. Not in height, he just seemed… more mature. He had been through pain. He had most likely thought all of them were dead, and that grief was still visible from his eyes. Seungmin pulled Felix into a warm hug. They had never been all that close, but he was still a very dear friend of Seungmin’s.
“Ican’tbelieveyou’realive”, Seungmin heard Hyunjin sobbing, before he let go of Felix. Changbin looked a bit puzzled, but he had a happy grin stretched over his features.
“I’vemissedyousomuchyouhavenoidea”, Hyunjin wailed and Seungmin sighed.
“That bad?” Felix asked from Seungmin.
“He barely slept.” Seungmin answered. Hyunjin had kept waking up through the night, just to look around frantically and calm down once he saw Seungmin again. He had got scared by every loud noise, and more than once Seungmin had seen the red flash in his eyes.
“Give him time. He really needs it.”
Seungmin nodded at Felix, he already knew that. Thank gods time was all they had on the seas. Seungmin also had a hunch that they would steer clear from any and all fights and heists for a little while, just to… avoid losing what had once again been found.

Hyunjin let go of Changbin and turned to Felix instead, pulling him into yet another hug.
“We found them.” The half-siren mumbled through his tears.
“We did.” Felix caressed his back, smiling like a thousand suns. 
“Felix, we found them!”
“We did, Hyunjin.”

It would have been a lie to say Seungmin’s heart didn’t ache a little at that. He’d have to ask Felix at some point what they had… gone through together. What he knew Hyunjin had gone through. Seungmin knew that Hyunjin was most likely going to keep some details from Seungmin to protect him, but Seungmin wanted to know. He needed to know.

The door behind them clanked, Seungmin turned around and saw Minho stepping out to the main deck. He glanced at Seungmin and Seungmin nodded – it was safe to approach Hyunjin and he had told Hyunjin what Minho was, there shouldn’t be any surprises that would scare him.
“Minho!” Hyunjin cried out before latching on to him, which probably surprised all of them as Hyunjin and Minho had never been that close, they hadn’t known each other for long and sirens and witches didn’t really get along in the first place. Viola, Minho’s owl screeched and flied around Minho and Hyunjin, clearly trying to understand who this new person was. Minho hugged Hyunjin back, from the corner of his eye Seungmin saw Changbin taking Felix’s hand and lead him towards the forecastle and Seungmin decided to follow their lead.

Hyunjin soon let go of Minho, a little sniffly and teary and Minho patted his head, mumbled something along the lines of “I’m glad you’re back, we have missed you”, and Hyunjin said he had missed Minho too. Minho then said he had some business to attend to with Chan and he’d have to go, but they’d see each other at dinner, so he left the two of them on their own devices. Hyunjin finally got to breathe in and Seungmin took him by his hand.
“Are you ready?” he asked, a little smile tugging the corners of his mouth as he saw Hyunjin slowly starting to look around him.
“I don’t think I’ll ever be. What the fuck, Seungmin? This ship is enormous!”

And it sure was. Calliope was slightly bigger than Euryale had been, it had one storage deck more than Euryale had had. Seungmin led Hyunjin to the lowest one, in through the hatches and down the stairs. At the lowest deck was the brig, at the second lowest were storages, Seungmin showed Hyunjin everything he needed to know. Here were clothes, there was food, there was more gunpowder, here the treasures they had. The third deck was full of storages, too, as well as a few still-empty rooms. Torches and lanterns on the walls lit their way through the ship, Seungmin told Hyunjin how they had bought the ship from Singapore with the little money they had and renovated it. Hyunjin listened silently, before mumbling “Singapore?”
“Yeah. We spent almost two years there, only returned a few months ago.”
Hyunjin swallowed and nodded, remained quiet for a moment before continuing: “I was in Singapore, too. For a short while. With a pirate crew. We were probably there at the same time.”

Seungmin felt heaviness in his chest. They were thinking about the same thing, weren’t they? They had been close, but so far from each other at one point. If they had just… if they had just met each other, Hyunjin wouldn’t be so… broken now.
“It’s alright, we’re here now”, Hyunjin smiled, before taking Seungmin’s hand in his again. Seungmin only nodded, pushed all the horrible thoughts away as he led Hyunjin to the gun deck. Barrels of gunpowder, cannons, guns, swords, everything they needed in case of a fight. A few crewmembers came to introduce themselves to Hyunjin and Hyunjin shook their hands. Seungmin could see a sliver in that moment of the real Hyunjin, the one that was always so kind and excited about everything, especially people. He was there somewhere, behind all of those layers of fear.

After the gun deck, they rose to the main deck, Seungmin showed Hyunjin the forecastle where the crew was sleeping. He showed his own little hammock in the large space underneath the forecastle deck. There were at least forty mattresses and beds around, a few crewmates were napping in the forecastle. Light seeped in through the small windows.
“Will I be sleeping here, too?” Hyunjin whispered, looking around. Seungmin shook his head.
“Chan said he’ll find a space just for the two of us.”
“Sounds amazing”, Hyunjin smiled, and Seungmin truly hoped Chan would find them one. Or well, he already had a hunch of what it was going to be. They had empty space in the storage rooms behind the kitchen.

After the crew’s quarters they rose to the actual forecastle deck, and Hyunjin stopped to simply admire the ship behind them. Calliope was dark in color, the wood it had been made of was dark brown, almost black. Large, emerald green sails were tied to the masts, some of them had golden embroidery on them, making them look like they were rippling in the wind like liquid velvet (Minho had some business to do with it). Doorknobs, lanterns, torches, all of the little details around the ship were gilded or painted golden.
“This looks so… Changbin”, Hyunjin mumbled, clearly taken aback by the beauty of the ship.
“He chose the colors. As well as the name.”
Hyunjin leaned over the edge of the ship to glance at the statue of the lady at the front of the ship, below the bowsprit. Some of the paint had washed off of it with the waves.
“Calliope, wasn’t it?”
“Yeah.”
“Where did he get that name from?”
“Felix.”
“Of course”, Hyunjin rolled his eyes before returning beside Seungmin. They still had the kitchen and quarter deck to go, and Seungmin decided to save the kitchen for the last.

Hand in hand, Seungmin and Hyunjin walked through the main deck and rose the steps to the quarter deck. Chan and Minho were hunched over the compass table, examining a map, Jisung was steering the ship.
“How are you liking the beauty so far?” Jisung asked, smiling at Hyunjin.
“She’s gorgeous. How the hell did you even- you know what, never mind, it’s probably too long of a story to tell right now”, Hyunjin laughed, and something deep in Seungmin’s chest felt like fluttering. He was in there somewhere. The familiar laughter, the homely smiles, they were there somewhere.
“You’re absolutely correct, it is”, Chan gently smiled at the tree of them. “Seungmin, I think the few bigger spaces behind the kitchen would be fit for you two. I’ll have some crewmembers move the stuff away from the last room in the hallway since that’s the one with the windows and all that.”
Seungmin knew which storage room Chan meant and nodded. It wasn’t really a storage room, it could be used as a cabin just fine, they just had some rum barrels stored in there right now, but they could be moved elsewhere.
“Thank you”, he muttered, and Chan nodded. Both of them knew the rooms behind the kitchen would be the best. Far enough from anyone else, with only Chan’s cabin above them and Changbin’s cabin (and now Felix’s, too) behind the sidewall.

Seungmin led Hyunjin to the upper quarter deck, from where they could see the entire ship in front of them. The back ornament of the ship rose high above the deck, glimmered golden in the sunlight. Three lanterns above it hadn’t been lit. Hyunjin leaned against the railing, a small smile had crept up on his features as they gazed at the view in front of them. The ship, and boundless sea behind it, stretching all the way to the horizon. A few wisps of dark hair had fallen from Hyunjin’s ponytail and flied around Hyunjin’s head in the wind and Seungmin tugged one of the strands behind his ear. The day was a sunny one, a few clouds were passing by in the sky above them, Seungmin could see a few smaller islands in the horizon.
“I can’t believe this is real”, Hyunjin whispered, just loud enough for Seungmin to hear it.
“I can’t really believe it either”, Seungmin muttered. He felt Hyunjin lean against him, just slightly. He could still feel how tense Hyunjin was, how he wasn’t relaxed at all. Every time a new face walked over the deck, his eyes got sharper, he had to examine if the unfamiliar person was a danger, before moving his attention away. That was such an exhausting way to live, Seungmin could tell that much. He just hoped that sooner or later Hyunjin would adjust and let down his guards. Seungmin would have to help him do so.

“I want to see the kitchen, Seungmin”, Hyunjin mumbled, tugging the hem of Seungmin’s shirt, suddenly shy.
“Alright.” Seungmin took Hyunjin’s hand in his again.
“I suppose you’re still the best cook to ever graze the earth’s surface? Or the sea’s surface?” Hyunjin grinned, Seungmin snorted at him.
“Not really, Luisa beats me in that by a landslide.”
“Luisa?”
“Our other cook. She’s amazing.”
“I’m sure she is since she’s here.”

Together they walked from the upper quarter deck to the quarter deck and then to the main deck. Underneath the quarter deck on the wall were two doors
“The left one leads to Changbin’s and Minho and Jisung’s cabins. Changbin’s is the one at the end, Minho’s and Jisung’s is the one on the left.”
“Just like in Euryale.”
“Yeah. The right door leads to the kitchen.”
Seungmin opened the door, stepped the few steps down right into the kitchen. Hyunjin followed right behind him. The light in the kitchen was dim, it took a moment for Seungmin to get used to it again as the windows on the walls were tiny and barely let light in. Tables, stools, benches, some matched each other, some didn’t. Behind the rows of tables was the kitchen area with the oven and tables to work on. Countless pots and pans were stacked on the shelves on top of one another. Behind the kitchen was a doorway, and that doorway led to the storage rooms. And the room Seungmin and Hyunjin were going to make theirs.

“Finally! Seungmin, have you completely abandoned me in my own demise? My joints are old and aching, go get Jeongin, he has that mighty salve that helps in everything!” Luisa stood up from behind the kitchen counters, she had been hunched over something.
“Ah! I suppose this is the siren boy of yours?” Luisa dashed from behind the kitchen to greet Hyunjin, who looked a little awkward, but shook Luisa’s hand, anyway.
“Nice to meet you”, Hyunjin mumbled.
“You as well. The crew has cleared some space for you from the back, you can go check it out. You better not be abandoning me for dinner preparations, too, boy, or I will kick your ass back to yesterday.” Luisa poked Seungmin in the chest as she let go of Hyunjin’s hand.
Hyunjin looked a bit horrified and Luisa bursted out laughing:
“Don’t worry, little siren, I’m only joking. Preparing food for nearly fifty people is a pain, but I will manage if I have to.”

As Luisa left to fetch something from the storages below the decks, Seungmin led Hyunjin through the kitchen and in through the doorway in the back.
“Well, she is truly something”, Hyunjin breathed out the moment Luisa left the kitchen.
“She is. Not even Chan dares to go against her”, Seungmin mumbled, still holding to Hyunjin’s hand. He felt unable to let go of it now that he finally got to hold it again.
“She reminds me of Madam Symphone. Is she from… Portugal?” Madam Symphone had an inn at Tortuga. One of the best inns in the entire town in Seungmin’s opinion. Seungmin nodded, Luisa was indeed from Portugal, which was evident from her thick accent. No one still knew how she had ended up in Singapore, but backstories didn’t really matter on the seas, anyway.

Seungmin pushed the last door at the end of the hallway open. He stepped into a mostly empty room. There were some shelves on the walls along with a cabinet on the wall next to the door. A few empty barrels had been left in the corner. On the back wall was a window, not a big one, but not really a small one, either.
“This is ours?” Hyunjin muttered as he stood in the middle of the room, looking around. The room wasn’t big, either. It was… well, small. It hadn’t been meant to be used as an actual cabin, but it was still bigger than most of the storage rooms.
“Yeah. We’ll… we’ll get some mattresses and a table and… something. I’m not sure. If you don’t like it, we can request some of the rooms from the lower decks…”
“I love it, Seungmin.”
Seungmin watched as Hyunjin’s features melted into a smile and he pulled Seungmin closer into a hug. Before he knew it, he felt Hyunjin’s lips on his own and he let his guards fall down. Hyunjin was here, Hyunjin was kissing him, and he was alive. Somehow the touch made it all so… real.

As they pulled apart from the kiss, Hyunjin pressed his forehead against Seungmin’s, eyes still closed.
“I missed you so bad”, Hyunjin mumbled again, Seungmin felt the hold around his neck tightening, just a bit, so he tightened his hold of Hyunjin’s waist.
“I missed you too.”

***

Seungmin and Hyunjin got mattresses for their little room, Chan promised to get them a proper bed when they would stop by Tortuga the next time. They got a small table and a few stools and Seungmin fetched his own things from the crew’s quarters into their little room. A few books, a necklace from his mother, clothes, he didn’t have much and Hyunjin had even less. But they had each other now, and that was the only thing that mattered.

After creating their small, very own space, Chan had done his little captain speech where he had introduced Hyunjin and Felix to the entire crew properly. Hyunjin had met most of the crew, he had shaken hands, Seungmin right beside him the entire time. Hyunjin had been a little jumpy, but still rather excited to meet the crew. Even Viola had greeted Hyunjin by flying over to him and lightly pecking his hand, begging for scratches. That wasn’t a very frequent occasion, and both Seungmin and Minho had been rather surprised by that. Perhaps it was the siren in Hyunjin that Viola so liked (or the entire boy, Seungmin couldn’t blame the owl).

Seungmin had fetched some salve for Luisa from Jeongin, who had his own little healer cabin below the gun decks. He didn’t sleep there, he still preferred to sleep in the crew’s quarters as the snores apparently calmed him and made it easier to sleep. Luisa had told Seungmin that he wouldn’t have to make dinner with her either, but Seungmin had insisted on helping her and Jeongin had promised to look after Hyunjin with Felix, who Hyunjin felt the most comfortable around for the time being.

“I suppose I should probably introduce myself to you.”
Seungmin was just about to leave Hyunjin and Jeongin on the main deck as someone approached them. Seungmin could immediately sense the danger as Hyunjin turned around to face the stranger and froze. Red flashed in his eyes, and he flinched backwards. Seungmin immediately grabbed Hyunjin’s hand.
“I’m not a danger to you, siren.”
The red didn’t seep out immediately. Hyunjin examined the danger from head to toe, before the danger stuck his hand out.
“Who are you?” Hyunjin hissed through gritted teeth, Seungmin could feel his fingers digging to his hand.
“I’m Yeonjun. A quarter of what you are.”
Yeonjun was a new one in their crew. He had joined their crew only a few months back when they had stopped by Tortuga. Seungmin could see another person running from the other end of the ship to them. Yeonjun’s friend, Soobin, who was apparently the son of someone super rich and had run away from his responsibilities and decided to join their crew.

“I’m not about to slash your throat, siren, unless you’re going to slash mine”, Yeonjun smirked, still holding his hand out. ‘A quarter what you are’. A siren. Yeonjun was a quarter siren. How hadn’t Seungmin realized that before? Did Chan know? Jeongin did, by the looks of it.
“Yeonjun! You can’t act like that, the boy is a mess and here you are threatening him!” Soobin waved his hand in front of Yeonjun’s face, before grabbing his arm. Neither Yeonjun nor Hyunjin moved. Until Hyunjin did. He stepped in front of Seungmin.
“I’m not here for your territory either”, Yeonjun said, still that slight smirk on his face. He usually had that on his face, it was a permanent feature of his.
Territory? Sirens were territorial. And Seungmin was part of that territory, and Hyunjin had probably thought most of the ship was, too. But now it wasn’t, because there was another siren here. Albeit only a quarter one.

The air was tense, frozen, Seungmin had no idea what to do. From the corner of his eye, he could see Jisung taking Chan’s place on the helm and Chan running down the stairs to the main deck. Then the tension bursted as the red seeped out of Hyunjin’s eyes and his shoulders relaxed, just a bit. Hesitantly he took Yeonjun’s hand and shook it, still examining his face.
“Hyunjin”, he mumbled. He didn’t see Yeonjun as a danger, or not as a danger enough.
“Nice to meet you. I’m sure we’ll have some mighty conversations about Aruba ahead of us”, Yeonjun grinned before letting go of Hyunjin’s hand and turning his back to them. Hyunjin’s grip of Seungmin’s hand loosened a little, before he whispered:
“Aruba?”

And like a whiplash, it struck Seungmin. Hyunjin had lived the first years of his life in Aruba.

***

The clamor in the kitchen felt homely. After the little scene on the main deck Hyunjin had seemed a little more alert than before but insisted that Seungmin should go help Luisa and that he was fine and staying with Jeongin anyway. He had also said that he couldn’t become too dependent on Seungmin and had to learn his ways on the ship on his own and as much as Seungmin hated it, Hyunjin was right. So Seungmin had left Hyunjin with Jeongin and returned to his duties as the other cook of the ship.

Seungmin threw his apron away as Luisa said he could go, she would watch over the rest and make sure there was enough food served as they were having a sort of Hyunjin-and-Felix-are-back-home -victory dinner. Seungmin made his way over to the corner table through the kitchen with his plate and sat down on the last spot available, reserved for him from right next to Hyunjin.

It felt so right. It was the eight of them finally together again, for the first time in three years, Seungmin realized. He had never even dreamed about this to happen. Or maybe he had, in his absolute worst nightmares that had always ended up in turmoil and destruction.
“It almost feels like we’re back in Euryale”, Hyunjin whispered to Seungmin as he started digging through his plate. The others were almost finished already as Seungmin had joined them a little late, but he wasn’t in a hurry, he knew this night was going to be a long one.

It did feel like back in Euryale. The kitchen was similar, Seungmin had made sure of that, because some part of him had been so reluctant of letting go that he had created his safe space to be entirely like the one he had lost. Chan hadn’t liked the idea at first, but Seungmin hadn’t taken any complaints as he had been the one in charge of building the kitchen. Or rather, furnishing, since most of the ship had already been built, even if it wasn’t in a good condition. Seungmin had needed it, he had needed the space for himself and to be exactly like the one he had had, because that way he knew he’d never… forget. Anything. All the best moments, all of those he so cherished, he had lived in the kitchen of Euryale that looked almost the same as the kitchen on Calliope. He had kissed Hyunjin for the first time in the kitchen of Euryale. He had also kissed him for the last time in the kitchen of Euryale.

The last kiss. Seungmin could still remember it so vividly. They had been cornered in the kitchen, three men from Felix’s father’s crew had cornered them, Seungmin had got his guts nearly ripped from him just before the command to stop had rung from the main deck. Then minutes had passed, Seungmin had only heard Felix’s crying outside, he had only felt Hyunjin’s trembling hand in his as he had done his best to fight the siren senses inside of him. Then the men had let go, suddenly left them alone, Seungmin had been so confused and Hyunjin so scared and there had been this irrational moment of happiness that they were both alive and Seungmin had kissed Hyunjin.

And after that the floor had suddenly exploded from underneath them.

“So… Felix. What have you been up to, you know, for the past three years?” Chan sat next to Seungmin at the end of the table, his tricorne hat was placed next to him. Always at the end of the table, like a proper captain. Seungmin felt Hyunjin sitting a bit closer to him. He was still on the edge, kept glancing around and he wasn’t clearly fond of sitting with his back towards the door, but didn’t have the heart to complain, not when it was Minho sitting opposite to him. Felix started to tell his little story of his three years that sounded rather boring to Seungmin (tax reports, no thank you) and having had enough of it all and running away. Seungmin could see the look on Changbin’s face, he, too, had a quite hard time believing that Felix was finally here.

Out of all of these people, Changbin knew Seungmin’s pain probably the best along with Jeongin. Jeongin had been the one to hold him through his grief, but Changbin had known the depth of his pain. They hadn’t told the others (or well, Chan probably knew), but they had spent nights together, sitting at the forecastle of the ship, just staring into the horizon in silence. They didn’t need anything else, just the other one and the silence. They only needed the knowledge that the other one knew what the other one was going through. Changbin had seen the angry side, too, he had seen Seungmin throwing the iron pans through the window back when they were still in Singapore, he had seen him cursing the world, he had watched as he had broken down crying on the floor, and stuck with him through it. Seungmin was still ashamed of it, he had been so angry, sometimes at Felix, sometimes at the world, mostly at himself.

Hyunjin told his side of the story, too, but not the entirety of it. Just the brief part after meeting Felix, they had met in Tortuga after Hyunjin had been on the seas for nearly three years, sailing all over. Hyunjin didn’t say more of it, and Seungmin wasn’t going to ask, not here. There was a reason why Hyunjin was like he was now, and that reason most likely had something to do with those years spent alone on the seas. Hyunjin would tell him when he was ready. According to Felix, they were going to sail to London on Liberty and meet Felix’s old friend, but they had never got that far on the plan because Chan’s crew had decided to heist that particular ship.

Or rather, Jeongin had. He had run to Chan, pulling him by the sleeve of his shirt that they should go check out that ship, there was something in it, something important, almost familiar, and as the crew had been antsy and it had been a few weeks since the last heist… well, they had decided to attack. Jeongin had known, hadn’t he? Or perhaps not known, but he knew the seas, he knew there had been certain energy on that ship. Felix’s energy. Because Jeongin had once mentioned that he couldn’t really feel Hyunjin’s energy all that well, most likely because he was a half siren and belonged on the seas like Jeongin did.

Seungmin didn’t understand it, really, but he had long ago come to terms with the fact that he’d never understand most of the things in the world.

They all listened to the little story, Chan kept on nodding, Jisung and Minho had their hands linked. Sometimes Seungmin still had a hard time believing that they had found Minho and Jisung, too. For the longest time they had thought they had drowned among the first ones as not a trace had been left of them after the explosion. But no, here they were, Minho as a witch and Jisung as the boatswain of the ship, both all grown up and almost matured.

Almost. Jisung was a forever child at the heart, Seungmin knew that. He emitted light wherever he went.

Hyunjin kept on fiddling with the string of his shirt as Felix ended their story.
“But how about you? What happened after the… explosion? I mean, I-I thought you were all dead”, Felix asked.
Oh, Felix wasn’t the one who had felt like that, not at all. Seungmin swallowed, he could feel his entire posture tensing, he knew what was to come as Chan glanced at him before starting the story.
“Well, that’s a long story.” Chan smiled, looked around, before he continued:  
“To make it slightly shorter, let’s just say that we all didn’t end up in the same place initially. After the explosion, most of the crew was dead, some drowned, some dead from the battle, I was hanging on to an empty barrel to stay afloat and searched for survivors. I noticed Changbin was still alive, barely holding on to a piece of wood, and then I noticed… that Seungmin was alive. And…” Chan glanced at Seungmin, Seungmin felt almost frozen. He could feel the anxiety and fear in his guts, stirring in deep. He wasn’t ready. He wasn’t ready to say it out loud, he wasn’t ready to admit the biggest mistake of his entire life. Seungmin stared at the table, he felt Hyunjin moving next to him and squeezing his hand. He had to- he couldn’t just stay quiet, he had done that so many times and regretted it every single time.

“I thought you were dead”, he breathed out. There it was. Seungmin had thought Hyunjin was dead. He had thought he had lost Hyunjin after that battle.
“You weren’t breathing. I… I hauled you on that piece of hull, I… I tried to wake you up but you just didn’t. I thought I had lost you and” A sniffle, Seungmin could feel the knot in his throat. He could still recall the events so vividly, the cold waves around him, the endless sea below his feet trying to pull him in, and Hyunjin, heavy in his arms, looking so ethereal, but broken. “And I just couldn’t hold on any longer and I… let go of you and you floated away and I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have, I really shouldn’t hav-“
“Don’t. We’re here now. That’s all that matters.” Hyunjin took Seungmin’s head in his hands and made him look at him, before pressing his fingers on Seungmin’s lips to shut him up. Seungmin tried to shake his head, that wasn’t all, he had to apologize for everything, he would continue to do so until the very last breath he would ever take because the guilt was too strong to overcome. He had let go of Hyunjin and that was the reason Hyunjin was now broken shards of glass of the glory he once had been.

Seungmin pressed his head against Hyunjin’s shoulder, he felt the siren’s hands finding their way to his waist. He tried to keep the sobs away, he tried to keep himself as collected as possible, but failed. Chan continued the story as Seungmin quietly cried against Hyunjin’s shoulder in his so familiar embrace. Chan told Felix and Hyunjin how he, Seungmin, Changbin and Jeongin had floated for hours on end as Euryale had sunk around them, until they had been rescued. Then they had traveled from San Juan to East Indies, settled down in Singapore’s little pirate haven and found themselves a ship that was going to be Calliope. Then they had hired the most fearless crew on the seven seas (as Chan it called) and returned to sink the Pirate Slayer that had been targeting pirate ships in the Caribbean for the past years. And now they were here.

Minho and Jisung told their story, too, how Minho had become the witch he was now and how they had sailed a little around the Caribbean before settling in Tortuga for a bit as neither of them had really had the call for the seas without their real crew. Seungmin could remember it, how he had stared at Jisung in the absolute disbelief in that little magic shop of theirs, and Jisung had nearly fainted right then and there when they had seen each other for the first time in nearly three years. Seungmin didn’t say anything, he couldn’t, all he felt was Hyunjin’s hand caressing his back as his sobs started to die down. He had let go of… he had let go of Hyunjin and… gods, he couldn’t even, he didn’t even know how to cope with it all.

When Seungmin finally lifted his head from Hyunjin’s shoulder, the conversation had moved on from the past to the present, and Felix told them about all of the new swording moves he was going to teach them. Hyunjin reached with his fingers for Seungmin’s face and gently swept away the few fallen tears still on his face, before brushing over the small wound underneath his eye. Seungmin could see how his expression turned from gentle to a slightly sad one. Seungmin simply shook his head, took his hands in his.
“I’m sorry for that one”, Hyunjin mumbled, quietly to not to cut Felix off. Seungmin sniffled, just lightly, before looking at his beloved in front of him:
“I’m sorry for everything.”

***

Guilt hung heavy on Seungmin’s shoulders. It weighed him down, chased after his dreams where he lost Hyunjin over and over again. Seungmin felt horrible, but Hyunjin felt better – and that was good, it was good, Seungmin kept telling himself that. Hyunjin wasn’t broken, just, maybe traumatized, but he was getting better. Day after day he kept working with the crew, making new friends, Seungmin could visibly see how through the layers the old Hyunjin was returning, the Hyunjin that everyone so adored, the Hyunjin had people falling for him right before his feet with just a bit of batting his lashes. The Hyunjin that always got whatever he wanted, because no one could say no to him.

But Seungmin felt guilty. He couldn’t help the feeling, it didn’t let go of him, not even when Hyunjin fell asleep in his arms, in their own bed, in their own little room. The only times Seungmin felt perfectly content were the few moments after waking up, before the world came back to him and he could remember everything, in those moments he only had Hyunjin in his arms, sleeping soundly with no dangers lurking around. And then, as Seungmin opened his eyes every morning, those moments were gone, and he could once again remember how he had let go of Hyunjin and the siren had had to sail around the seas all alone for three years.

Still, guilty or not, the days started passing around them, Seungmin had to return to his kitchen and leave Hyunjin alone for more hours than he would have liked to, but Jeongin had sword he’d keep the little siren out of trouble until he’d gain control of himself again and then he could cause trouble all he wanted. Chan had said so, too, he had promised Seungmin to keep an eye on Hyunjin as much as he could. So had Jisung. Minho hadn’t said anything, but Seungmin figured Minho in his silence would keep an eye on Hyunjin, too. After all, he was going to be the first one to know if something was off with his little owl.

Speaking of the owl, Viola was absolutely smitten by Hyunjin. She kept flying around him all the time, occasionally sitting on his shoulder and accompanying him to the heights when he had to go tie some sails down or be the lookout for the day. Perhaps that was a little endearing, and relieving, because the rest of the crew clearly made the connection that if the owl liked Hyunjin, then he couldn’t be too bad of a person.

“What’s wrong?” Hyunjin mumbled. Seungmin was still finishing his last tasks in the kitchen, Luisa had left already. Just some sweeping of the floor and washing the last pots, nothing more, Seungmin wasn’t in a hurry since he didn’t have all that much to do. The candles and lanterns lit the kitchen in a soft light, Seungmin could hear some chatter from the outside as the sun was slowly setting and the crew was getting ready to go to sleep after a day of working.
“Nothing”, Seungmin muttered as he swept one of the corners clean, bent down to sweep the floor from underneath the tables.
“Don’t lie to me, Seungmin, I know you better than I know myself.”

Seungmin knew it, the way Hyunjin presented himself to the others was more of an act. He was still jumpy. He was still on the edge, but slowly letting his guards down completely. He was still looking out for any dangers around him, and it wasn’t helping that he hadn’t yet adjusted to the presence of another siren. Or well, quarter siren in this case.
“Nothing’s wrong”, Seungmin swallowed. He didn’t… he knew he shouldn’t be feeling like this, he knew he should have been bursting with joy now that Hyunjin was back and alive and everything was well in the world and they had the whole sea in front of them and nothing could separate them ever again, but… still.

Hyunjin approached Seungmin, took the broom from his hands and sat down on one of the benches, pulling Seungmin to sit with him. Seungmin didn’t resist.
“You’ve been moping for the past days and you’re being way too careful with me. You haven’t complained once even if I have broken like four plates within the last two days.”
“Have you been testing me?”
“Yes.”
Seungmin snorted as Hyunjin took his hands in his own. The few days had done miracles to him, it seemed like he had started to glow again, especially with other people around. But Seungmin could see the scars underneath, and he knew he was the reason for them. He felt a knot tightening in his throat.

“I know you’re bad at talking, but I have to know what’s wrong in order to fix it.”
“It’s not- it’s not like that”, Seungmin mumbled. He wanted to look anywhere except into Hyunjin’s eyes, because he knew he would break right then and there.
“Well, it clearly is something, Seungmin.” Hyunjin sounded concerned, and to be fair, he had every right to be. Seungmin looked at their linked hands, swallowed, the air felt a little pressuring.
“It’s about you thinking I was dead, isn’t it?”

Seungmin could feel Hyunjin tightening his hold as soon as the tears started streaming down his cheeks.
“Oh, Seungmin…” The half-siren pulled Seungmin into a tight hug, and Seungmin buried his head against his shoulder, sobbing. 
“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, I, I just can’t stop thinking about it and I still can’t really believe that you’re here and I- I- I’m so sorry, Hyunjin”, Seungmin hiccupped against Hyunjin’s neck, his shoulders wavering, his entire body shaking.
“Seungmin, it’s alright”, Hyunjin mumbled against his ear. “I forgive you. You thought I was dead, it’s only logical to let dead weight go when you’re fighting for your own life.”
“Don’t say that-“
“But it’s true, Seungmin. If you had held onto me, you could be dead by now, too. It wasn’t until hours after I woke up under a cloudless sky.”
Cloudless sky. It had rained when Euryale had sunk.
“I’m sorry.” The guilt kept its grip of Seungmin, never faltering. Hyunjin took Seungmin’s head in between his hands and pulled him away from his shoulder, before gently swiping the tears away. Then he pressed little, chaste kisses on his cheek, the other cheek, forehead, and finally on his lips. Seungmin couldn’t stop the tears running down his face, nor the sobs still wracking through him.
“Stop saying that, you have nothing to be sorry of”, Hyunjin mumbled, before kissing Seungmin again.

Seungmin pressed his forehead against Hyunjin’s shoulder again, tried to get his breathing even. The void swarming inside of him felt so overbearing.
“And you know… Um, I think… You may not have been completely incorrect of me being dead back then.”
“W-what?” Seungmin croaked, lifted his head from Hyunjin’s shoulder to look at the half-siren better. He had a small, crooked, yet sad smile on his lips. A lock of hair had fallen from his ponytail, framing his features beautifully. Hyunjin took his hands again in his own.

“I… Well, me, Yeonjun and Jeongin have been… talking recently. Or more like, yesterday. And… you know, Jeongin is very curious of all things healing and… I noticed some things about myself when I was sailing alone.”
Seungmin was a bit confused, but nodded, encouraging Hyunjin to continue.
“When I was… well, when I was in my prime, back then when I was slowly letting go of the past and felt comfortable for a short period of time on board of this one ship and I had recently come more in touch with my siren side I… I noticed that I healed faster. Better. Faster than a normal person would.”

“And then I realized I’ve noticed it before, too. Aboard Euryale. I remember that sometimes I got these small nicks or cuts from splinters on the masts or something and then I’d just find some small spots of blood on my shirt and no cuts in sight anymore. And then, when we were talking with Jeongin, I sort of… put one plus one together and realized that sirens probably heal faster than regular humans. Yeonjun does, too, just not as fast as me as his grandmother is a siren. We also figured that we probably were from the same pack, by the way.”
Aruba. Right.

“And then, we were talking about me being apparently dead after the explosion and, you know, Jeongin saw me too and told me that I really looked dead and not just unconscious, although I have no idea what’s the difference supposed to be like but anyway, he told me that he thought I was dead, too, and so did the others and… you know, maybe I really was dead for a short while. Maybe the siren in me just decided it wasn’t my time to go yet.”

Seungmin didn’t understand.
“So you… came back to life?”
“Maybe. I don’t know. It would make sense, though. I remember nothing except the explosion and pain and then I woke up on that piece of hull with sunlight on my face and felt zero pain. And I’m pretty sure that if the siren in me wasn’t healing me faster than normal humans, then I wouldn’t be here.”

“And you know, if you didn’t haul me on that piece of hull, I wouldn’t be here either. So, whatever it is, you saved me Seungmin. I would have drowned if it wasn’t for that makeshift raft. Stop feeling guilty about letting go.”

Seungmin didn’t know what to do. He didn’t know how to act with the information he had been presented. So he decided to push it away right now, because it felt too big to handle.
“You said when you were in your prime”, he mumbled. The crooked smile on Hyunjin faltered, just a bit.
“Yeah. It wasn’t all bad and bloodbaths, you know. It wasn’t all good, either, but I did get… in touch with the siren in me more within the three years. It was… all I could lean on.”

Seungmin squeezed Hyunjin’s hands, closed his eyes for a brief moment. He wouldn’t dare. But he had to.
“What happened to you in those three years?” he asked, whispering, before he had the courage to open his eyes. The smile had completely let go of Hyunjin, the shadows on his face seemed a little stronger, flickering in the candlelight.
“Do you promise to not feel guilty about it if I tell you?” he asked. They both knew the answer to that.
“No.”
“Whatever happened to me wasn’t your fault, Seungmin. I made stupid decisions. Sometimes fate did those stupid decisions for me. Sometimes I had no choice but to try to stay alive.”
Seungmin nodded. He knew he’d feel guilty, but he had to know.

“I sang, Seungmin. I spent a day on the raft you had hauled me onto, and when I saw a ship on the horizon, I sang. I had no idea what else to do, how to get them to rescue me, so I did what I knew would surely work. And it did. A Dutch merchant ship found me and took me to their ship and… I just started working. We didn’t even share a language but they decided to leave me be when I just started doing stuff. It was alright. I was sad. They let me be. We sailed to Curacao, and then I… found a new ship.”

Seungmin could see the look on Hyunjin’s face turning slightly darker.
“First mistake I made. I was the youngest, the crew kept bullying me, it was rough, but not… that bad. Just work, work, all the time, no time to rest at all, we were heading for the East Indies. Then we got attacked by pirates, and I somehow managed to beg the captain to spare me and let me join them. I joined the crew of Kraken. Or well, I guess it was the siren in me doing the begging. It had started to… peek out more. With the pirate crew we just heisted ships around the East Indies. The captain realized what I was, and… used me. I sang for him, got the ships to sail close to us. I killed people for him, slashed throats open, helped him heist so, so many ships. Sometimes I was the only person doing the heisting as the… the opposing crews were completely spellbound by me.” Hyunjin’s eyes were glassy, he was somewhere far away, not in the present. “Then we headed for… Singapore.”

Singapore. Hyunjin had been so close, but so far.
“Our crew wasn’t very well-liked, and someone sunk our ship during the night right in front of the bay”, Hyunjin snorted. “I boarded another cargo ship under the Dutch colors. Yet another mistake. We decided to sail for the Caribbean. If the siren in me wasn’t completely in control before I stepped on that ship, then it surely was after I stepped out of it in Aruba…”

Seungmin swallowed, he tightened his hold of Hyunjin’s hands.
“What happened to you on that ship?” He quietly asked.
“Well, you know what they do to ‘pretty, vulnerable, young boys’ on ships like that.”
Seungmin sucked in a breath and closed his eyes. He knew. He knew exactly what they did to pretty, vulnerable young boys on ships like that if you didn’t have friends protecting your back. He had experienced it first-hand, years ago.
“I’m so sorry”, he whimpered, but Hyunjin just shook his head.

“After that I… just… strolled around Aruba, tried to find any relatives of mine but the only half-siren I found told me that most had been killed and the rest had left back to where we originated from.”

“Then the people in the harbor started to wonder why the Dutch vessel wasn’t moving anywhere nor were there any people in sight and why it had started to smell so bad, and from there they found twenty-six men with their eyes dug out and throats slashed open. I boarded a pirate ship and headed for Tortuga. To flee.”

Seungmin nearly let his jaw drop, but just nearly.
“W-what?”
Hyunjin took in a breath, closed his eyes for a moment before opening them again. Seungmin saw tears gathering in the corners of his eyes.
“I killed them, Seungmin. Two of them had backed me up once again in a corner and I let go. I let the siren in me take full control and… I killed them all. They had tried to hurt me so many times, some had even managed to do that, and I had had enough. And I… I was aware of it the entire time, Seungmin. I can remember my fingers digging into their flesh and tearing it open, and I remember that I enjoyed seeing the horror on their faces. I enjoyed the revenge. Usually I don’t… Usually I’m not in control when the siren takes over and I’m not aware of what’s happening until afterwards but then… I was aware. The whole time. And I did nothing to stop it.”
Hyunjin closed his eyes again, Seungmin squeezed his hands.

“After that I found myself in Tortuga, spent three weeks here just doing some odd jobs for everyone, mainly from Madame Symphone. In the evenings I had to run away from people all the time because the siren charms were constantly seeping through since I had let them out completely. I ran, I worked, I tried to find something to keep me moving. Then I was backed into a corner again and… that’s where Felix found me. After I had killed two people already. I’m not sure what would have happened if he hadn’t found me.”

They just stared at each other for a moment. Seungmin had no idea what to say. He had known Hyunjin must have gone through a lot since his siren side was so visible now, but this… this was on a whole another level.
“I’ve killed so many people, Seungmin. I can still, at nights, feel my fingers digging through so many throats and the warm blood dripping down my hands. It’s so different to battle with a sword when you know that the one opposing you is going to die or otherwise you will die, but killing someone with your bare hands… It’s… I… They didn’t even stand a chance.”
“They hurt you, Hyunjin. You were protecting yourself.”
“Did they, Seungmin? Did all of the twenty six people hurt me? They didn’t. Only a handful of them did.” The grin on Hyunjin’s face was a painful one.
“But the others didn’t come to help either.”
“No, they didn’t”, Hyunjin admitted. Seungmin could see so much pain in his eyes. And it was his fault, he had let go of the raft, he had let go of Hyunjin-
“I’m so sorry-”, Seungmin breathed out, Hyunjin let go of his hand to cover his mouth.
“Seungmin, I would have drowned if it wasn’t for you. If you hadn’t let go, it could have ended up with you draining your strength and drowning instead.”

And a lot of people would still be alive, if Seungmin hadn’t let go. They both knew that, but neither of them said it.
“Does Felix know?” Seungmin asked.
“Not all of it. He doesn’t know about the Dutch cargo ship.”
Seungmin nodded. He opened his mouth, he needed to say something, anything, but he just… What on seven seas could he have said? There was no way of changing things, and he could care less about that Dutch ship, to be fair.

“I’m sorry, I, I have no idea what to say, I just-“
“You don’t have to say anything”, Hyunjin whispered. He looked so… broken. So beaten down. Shattered.
“Just… Can you still love me even if I’m like this? Can you still love me when I’ve killed and will most likely kill again when the opportunity arises? Can you still love me, even with the siren side of me?”
“Yes”, Seungmin breathed out, not hesitating even for a moment. He let go of Hyunjin’s hands, only to cup his cheeks, bring the little siren a bit closer to him. He pressed a kiss on his forehead, then on both of his cheeks, right where a tear was rolling down his cheek.
“Yes”, Seungmin whispered, before he pressed his lips against Hyunjin’s, he felt relieved as Hyunjin answered to the kiss.
“Yes, I can, Hyunjin. And I will love you, even with the siren in you.”

***

Seungmin figured he would probably never stop feeling guilty. The days continued passing around them, slowly, but easily, everything seemed to fall into their places. Hyunjin fit into the crew, he was liked and after a week it felt like he had been part of the crew of Calliope always. It was the same with Felix, the crew loved him, of course, he was sunshine embodied. People loved listening to his stories from the world of aristocracy that he had been part of.

The guilt was there. Especially in those moments that Seungmin was alone, as he had to work in the kitchen by himself and he saw Hyunjin laughing at the main deck with his new friends. When they were together, it let go, just a bit. The moments spent entangled in each other’s embraces right after sunrise were the best, even if they were always broken by a knock on the door as Luisa came to wake Seungmin up in order to cook breakfast. But he was getting better, maybe. The both of them were.

After Hyunjin’s confession it felt like something, maybe ice, had broken from in between them. Hyunjin had been bottling it all up for a long time since he clearly hadn’t told anyone what had happened, but he trusted Seungmin enough to tell him. One evening Seungmin pulled Felix aside, mumbled a thousand thank yous to his ear while hugging him. He had realized that if it wasn’t for Felix, Hyunjin would have still been in Tortuga, and things could have been a lot worse. Sirens weren’t welcomed guests anywhere as they were so feared, and if Hyunjin would have felt himself threatened in Tortuga, he could have gone on a killing spree… which would have ended up in a siren hunt. And Seungmin didn’t want to think that thought any further.

The both of them knew that they would eventually have to tell at least to Chan and Changbin about everything, since they were in charge and had to know everything. They needed to know what Hyunjin had done in order to protect himself so that they would be able to protect Hyunjin. Hyunjin kept stalling telling them and Seungmin understood very well why, so they hadn’t said anything yet. But knowing the captain, he already knew something was up by the way Hyunjin and Seungmin kept glancing at each other every chance they got if they happened to be alone somewhere with the captain.

But to their surprise, it wasn’t Chan and Changbin who came to confront them about it. After a few days of aimless sailing on calm seas, one evening Minho knocked on the kitchen door with Chan, and Seungmin could visibly see from Hyunjin how he tensed immediately up. Minho sat them all around the kitchen table, before he blatantly asked Hyunjin:
“Was it you who killed the crew of that Dutch ship in Aruba? Congratulations, they have ghost stories told of you already.”
And Hyunjin immediately burst to tears.

Minho had heard. Of course he had, he always listened to the rumors, then he had heard from Felix that Hyunjin had stopped by Aruba before traveling to Tortuga, and he had made the math in his head. No one else knew, but both Minho and Chan said they wouldn’t have to know unless Hyunjin wanted to tell them. Jeongin already knew something was bugging Hyunjin, but didn’t say anything about it, according to Hyunjin.

Seungmin noticed it, how Chan carefully examined his and Hyunjin’s linked hands, how Seungmin kept him close as Hyunjin told the two what had happened. Seungmin answered to his gaze, and Chan knew exactly what it meant. Seungmin knew, and he was ready to move mountains to protect the one he so much loved, so his captain would have better left them be.

Which he did. He told Hyunjin that if there was something, anything he needed, then he just had to ask. He also promised him nothing of sorts would ever happen to him again, and that eased Seungmin’s heart a little. Chan also said he’d tell Changbin since he’d have to know, but Hyunjin would have to tell the rest himself. Then the captain and the witch had left, and Hyunjin had once again cried against Seungmin’s shoulder in the dim of the kitchen.

After that some of the tension had once again been lifted. Seungmin, too, was getting used to the situation, of waking up next to Hyunjin every morning. He was getting used to their little room and the fact that he was receiving unfathomable amounts of love every single day from the first spark of morning light to the last breath of nightly wind. Alright, maybe he wasn’t used to the former one as he had always been the one to remain in the corner quiet and alone. Then Hyunjin had appeared into his life and pulled him out of that corner and given him so much attention it made Seungmin’s head spin. And now he was doing it again. He had appeared again, and pulled Seungmin out of that mist he had spent the last three years of his life in.

Maybe they both were a little broken. Maybe both of them had been through so much in such a little time. But maybe they had each other.

***

“Flor de la Mar?” Jisung mumbled, he was looking at Felix who was sitting opposite to him beside Changbin. They were in Chan’s cabin, sitting on the sofas in front of his balcony, there were a few maps on the coffee table in between them. The cabin was lit with lanterns and numerous candles, the balcony door had been cracked open and the evening wind kept pushing the curtains aside. From the balcony they could all see a beautiful sunset and the foamy trail the ship left after them. Hyunjin had his arm wrapped around Seungmin’s waist as he rested his head on his shoulder. Chan and Jeongin were sitting opposite to them, Chan rose to his feet and skipped over to one of his cabinets full of books and scrolls.

“Flor de la Mar was a Portuguese ship, sunk roughly 200 years ago in front of Sumatra. It was known to carry huge amounts of treasure to the king of Portugal”, Chan said as he fumbled through the books.
“I heard some people talking about it in Tortuga. Something about the lost treasure.”
“I heard that, too”, Hyunjin mumbled to back Felix up.
“Tortuga isn’t exactly the most reliable news source…” Jeongin huffed. He had tied a few purple pearls into his hair, they were dangling next to his ear. They accentuated the lavender of his eyes in the flickering candlelight.
“I know, I know, but…”
“Flor de la Mar was real. I’ve heard of it”, Minho interrupted Felix. “I’ve heard of the lost treasure, too. The rumor has it that the lost treasure in question can’t be found from the shipwreck, as the captain of Flor de la Mar wasn’t as loyal to the Portuguese crown as he should have been and stored most of it in an unmarked island in the East Indies. The rumor also has it that a map exists, but no human can find it.”
“How do you know so much about it?” Changbin cocked his eyebrow at the witch. Minho simply cracked him a smile:
“I’ve traveled, and I hear things.”

“Even if it was real, we wouldn’t even know where to start searching. It’s not like East Indies is some puny little sea with only a handful of islands”, Jisung sighed.
“Or maybe we do know”, Chan mumbled as he pulled out a book and returned back to the coffee table before placing the book on it. “Never thought this one would come in handy. There are maps and logs of Portuguese sea lanes and trails they used while traveling the seas two hundred years ago. I suppose these are the ones Flor de la Mar used, too, and if the captain was a smart one, then he probably hid the treasure somewhere close to those trails in order to not fall behind on timetables and seem suspicious.”
“Why the hell do you have a book like this?” Jisung took the book and scrolled through a few pages. The book looked old, the pages were letting go of the binds.
“For treasure hunting. Very often people hide their treasures to somewhere very obvious where other people don’t even care to look as it is too obvious. Nobody has time to find uncharted islands on the huge seas, especially if they’re busy sailing under a crown.”

“So, are you saying we are about to go treasure hunting?” Seungmin felt Hyunjin tensing up next to him, and not from anxiety, but from excitement. He had always preferred going after treasures on unmapped islands than heisting ships with copious amounts of violence.
“Well… I mean, do we have anything else in mind? We’ll need to do something, that’s for certain, the crew is getting antsy as we don’t have a heading, but I’m done with heisting for a while. And I’m pretty sure that now that the Pirate Slayer is out of the game, they’re going to send more navy ships across the Caribbean to protect the trade ships. And I kinda miss Singapore.” Chan glanced at Hyunjin as he spoke. He didn’t just miss Singapore, he wanted to leave Caribbean for Hyunjin’s sake. Some people had known that Captain Seo’s crew had had a half-siren among them, and if the word traveled and they found out Calliope had all of the remaining crewmembers that had stayed alive after the battle in front of San Juan… Someone could be connecting the dots.

“It’s over a two-month sail from here to Singapore”, Changbin said.
“What if this is another Golden cup?” Jisung muttered, Jeongin giggled at him:
“As I recall, we had quite a joyful time going after the Golden cup, so I honestly wouldn’t be that mad about it.” The treasure hunt for the Golden cup had sure been a wild one with haunted jungles and ghosts running after them, just for them to find the treasure chest empty as someone had got to the cup before them.
“And I’m fairly sure that if someone had found the lost treasure of Flor de la Mar, everyone and their mothers would have heard of it by now”, Minho said.
“We need the map, though. Where should we start looking for that?” Jisung asked.
“I doubt it’s going to be here. I also doubt it’s going to be in Portugal, I feel that the captain would have kept it somewhere safe, either in the sunken ship, or somewhere in the East Indies… We’ll have to find out where he stayed for long periods of time. Or find the shipwreck.” Now Chan glanced at Jeongin, their little half-mermaid.

“So, it’s settled? We’re going to try to find the lost treasure of Flor de la Mar?” Seungmin finally opened his mouth to join the conversation. The captain looked at the seven of them, clearly weighing the pros and cons of the challenge ahead in his mind.
“Yeah. We are going to try to find the lost treasure of Flor de la Mar.”

***

The crew took the plans of their next target with excitement, as was expected. Luisa tried to fish for any additional information from Seungmin since she knew Seungmin was one of the seven people who had any say in the plans the captain had for them, but Seungmin just waved her off with a gentle smile and told her to get ready for absolutely everything. They had no idea what they were going to face on their journey to the East Indies, let alone when they would get there.

But first, they would head to Tortuga to resupply and sell some of the treasure they had and take a few-day break from sailing, and then they would head for the over two-month journey across the seas. Seungmin didn’t know if he was excited or terrified of what was about to come. On one hand, he liked it comfy, he liked seeing islands in the horizon to remind him that they weren’t completely off the maps, and he liked the familiarity of the Caribbean. On the other hand, he wanted to get Hyunjin as far from here as possible, and with the Pirate Slayer gone, the seas were going to be filled with pirates and navy ships, and clashes were going to happen most definitely. So many ships sailing underneath the crowns would want to take Pirate Slayer’s title as the vessel that the pirates feared to their very cores, and Seungmin wasn’t sure if he wanted to be a witness of that.

Hyunjin didn’t seem to mind about anything, really. During the days he worked along with the rest of the crew as Seungmin was stuck in the kitchen (Jeongin gave his mini reports to Seungmin behind Hyunjin’s back and told Seungmin that his little siren was doing just fine and adjusting well and Seungmin could stop worrying. Seungmin did not, in fact, stop worrying.). The evenings were spent with the entire crew playing games or just chilling, or with the eight of them sitting in Chan’s cabin and simply enjoying the fact that they all were together again, or Seungmin spent them with Hyunjin, sometimes sitting in the crow’s nest, sometimes at the forecastle deck, gazing at the sunset.

The days started slowly blending in together, and a sliver of genuine happiness peeked from somewhere beneath the layers Seungmin had gathered around himself in the past years. Hyunjin was here. Hyunjin was alive, and he was doing fine, he was getting visibly better, and his cheeks had started to gather that same roundness Seungmin could remember in them. Sunlight loved him, he seemed to be slowly getting hold of the thread of life again.

They were getting hold of the thread of life again. The both of them. Together.

***

“I want to go apologize to him.” Hyunjin mumbled as they were sitting on the forecastle deck at sundown. Some of the other crewmembers had hauled barrels and a few stools from the lower deck to the main deck as they had wanted to play some card game they had brought from Tortuga the last time Calliope had visited there. Seungmin had taken part in it a few times, too, but now… he just wanted to spend as much time with Hyunjin as he possibly could.
“Are you sure?” Seungmin asked.
“Yes. Jeongin told me he’s resting in the crew’s quarters.”
Seungmin nodded. If Hyunjin had made up his mind, then he would accompany him there. Salil had been hurt in the battle by Hyunjin, he had had his eyes dug out and was therefore blind nowadays. He had been recovering for the past weeks but was slowly getting used to getting around the ship without sight. Hyunjin hadn’t dared to talk to him yet, but apparently Salil wasn’t really pushing it either.

Together they descended the steps to the main deck from the forecastle before circling to the door leading to the crew’s quarters. Seungmin saw Chan at the helm, waved his hand at him to signal he was going with Hyunjin, and Chan waved back. Hyunjin opened the door to the crew’s quarters a little hesitantly before stepping the few small steps down.

The crew’s quarters were full of hammocks, mattresses and bunk beds. Those who didn’t have the chance to get their own little rooms slept here (which meant pretty much everyone except the original eight). The small window at the front casted in the sunset, otherwise the room was lit with a few lanterns. Seungmin nudged Hyunjin to the corner on the right, where he saw a person sitting on a bed, leaning against the wall. He had a gauze wrapped around his head.

“H-hello?” Hyunjin called out. Seungmin saw his hands balling into fists, so he took Hyunjin’s hand in his. The person, Salil, moved his head towards the voice.
“Hello. May I ask who is disturbing my peace on this fine evening?”
Salil was an elder man, a few greyed streaks ran down his black, tied hair. He was one of their best swordsmen. Had been. Unless he’d learn to fight with only his hearing and other senses. He had a strong accent in his speech – Seungmin wasn’t sure where he was from but had a feeling he was somewhere from the East Indies.

“I-it’s Hyunjin. And Seungmin”, Hyunjin, voice wavering called out.
“Ah, the half-siren and the cook. Do come closer, you won’t have to yell all the way from the door.”
Seungmin squeezed Hyunjin’s hand as they made their way carefully towards the corner, dodging all mattresses and any personal belongings left on the floor.
“There should be a bed next to mine, you can sit on that, I assume.”
There sure was a bed, a bit creaky and old, but Seungmin and Hyunjin sat on it, nevertheless. On the wooden box that had been turned around to use as a makeshift table next to Salil’s bed were a few small jars of salve, and Seungmin knew they were made by Jeongin for Salil.

“I, um, I… I want to apologize. I’m sorry. For everything. For making you lose your eyesight.” Hyunjin’s voice was shaky, he squeezed Seungmin’s hand like his life depended on it. A small, perhaps a sad smile formed on Salil’s chapped lips.
“Am not going to say it’s alright because it’s not and I miss my eyesight, but… I understand. Hyunjin, was it? I understand. Apology accepted.”
There was a brief silence and then Salil reached forwards.
“Hold my hand, will you?”
Hyunjin, a bit hesitantly, took Salil’s hand. Salil held it, Seungmin could see how with his touch he examined Hyunjin’s fingertips, before gently patting him on the back of his hand.
“You were protecting yourself. You thought you were in danger, and that’s why you attacked, it is in your nature. People, animals, everyone does that when they are cornered. They attack when they feel they’re in danger and can’t flee. They attack when there’s no other option. I understand why you did what you did, and I’m happy it was you and not the other boy with his sword, otherwise I would be accompanying my friends in the watery grave of the ocean. Don’t beat yourself up about it, you were only protecting yourself.”
Seungmin could feel how Hyunjin was shaking next to him.
“He’s right, Hyunjin, you were only protecting yourself”, he mumbled. He didn’t mean it just in this case – but in the past cases, too. In Aruba. In Tortuga. In anywhere he had been cornered and had to fight his way out.

“I’m, I’m sorry”, Hyunjin whimpered, a lone tear rolled down his cheek. Salil patted the back of Hyunjin’s hand once more, before letting go of him. Seungmin could see how Hyunjin started to curl into himself once again.
“To be fair, half-siren, I had already started to lose my eyesight. A curse in our family. You simply hastened the process a bit. I am not bitter, nor am I mad at you. Just make sure you and your skills keep our cook safe, finding a cook better than him would be a feat for our beloved captain if we happen to lose him”, Salil smiled, gently joking to ease the air a bit.
“I will”, Hyunjin whispered, glanced at Seungmin next to him. Seungmin swept the teardrop away from his cheek.
“Magnificent! Now, if you excuse me, I think I might head for sleep as the healing process is a bit tiring.”
Seungmin rose up, pulled Hyunjin with him.
“Thank you, Salil, and have a good night”, he said to the sailor, who only waved his hand at them.
“Good night to you two as well. May the waves be gentle to us tonight.”

***

Within a week the small town of Tortuga rose from behind the horizon as the skies were clear and waves gentle. Seungmin felt a certain sort of nostalgia as his feet hit the dock planks of Tortuga and the fellow pirates yelled greetings from over the railings of their ships. They were strange guests, and Seungmin assumed they would have rumors spreading of them faster than wildfire in only a matter of minutes. They hadn’t visited Tortuga with Calliope that many times, twice, to be exact, and then the harbor had been remotely quiet. However, now there were rumors spreading of Pirate Slayer being sunk by a ship with emerald green sails, and Calliope was the only ship with emerald green sails docked in Tortuga right now. Or ever, probably.

And it would only be a matter of time when someone would recognize at least Chan and Changbin, especially Changbin, since he had so many times visited places with his dear father, Captain Seo, who had been infamous and feared even among pirates. Connecting the dots wouldn’t take much time, either, since Calliope was a new ship, a gorgeous one at that, and perhaps Chan loved him some sense of community, and he had made every crewmember of Calliope wear something emerald green or golden. Which was why Seungmin and Hyunjin had matching emerald green shirts and golden bracelets around their wrists. Minho had only agreed to wear some jewelry with his black robes, the rest of them were a mixture of black, green, white and gold. They were being very… pretentious. There would be rumors. A lot of them. And that was what Chan wanted.

Which made Seungmin a little uncomfortable, especially given Felix’s background. But the boy didn’t seem to have a worry in his mind as he pulled Changbin along from stall to stall and shop to shop and the six of them simply followed along. Minho and Jisung showed where their little magic shop had been as it was rather close to the docks. There was another small shop now on its place, as had been expected. The day was a beautiful one, the city wasn’t as bustling as usually as the pirate crews had finally dared to leave Tortuga for the seas now that Pirate Slayer was out of the game. The steps on the paved streets of Tortuga felt almost comforting.

This was how it was supposed to be. All eight of them, together. Safe and sound. It spread warmth inside of Seungmin. He was never the one to say it out loud, but lord, did he love these people around him.

However, as much as they were together and safe and the swords hanging from their belts brought comfort to them, Hyunjin was jumpy. He kept a death grip of Seungmin’s hand at all times, glancing around, cautious of himself and his surroundings. Felix noticed it, too, gently patted his back and whispered a “You’re safe, Hyunjin, you’re with us now” to him when they headed for a small shop at the edge of the town that Chan knew sold all things forgotten. The streets got smaller, the houses got shabbier, a few chickens ran across the graveled streets. They got a lot of curious glances, which made Hyunjin cling to Seungmin even worse. Or perhaps worse was not the word for it as Seungmin welcomed his warmth next to him gladly. After all, he, too kept an eye on his surroundings all the time, and knew the others were doing the same even if they seemed to enjoy themselves and forget all of their worries. They were pirates, after all. And they were in Tortuga. All the rumors in Tortuga were most likely true, or had an ounce of truth to them.

They turned from a small alley to an even smaller alley, the air smelled a little burnt and something very dirty and repulsive. They passed by a few old drunkards, one of them had passed out in the sun. Then Chan took a sharp left and stopped in front of a door. Above it hung a sign that read “Lost and found”. He knocked on the door, waited for three seconds, before he turned the doorknob and stepped the two small steps into the shop. Or whatever it was.

As Seungmin had expected, the shop itself was rather small, and full of so many things it took a moment for him to take it all in. Shelves upon shelves, things were hanging from the roofbeams, tables and cabinets and boxes full of all things everything. Lost and found. Maps, scrolls, clothes, jewelry, everything. Hyunjin looked a little dazed, Jisung was exhilarated and started exploring his surroundings immediately. Minho didn’t seem too pleased by the place and all of the clutter around him. Changbin felt drawn to the books and Felix followed along.

Chan stepped further into the shop and Seungmin and Hyunjin chose to follow him, Jeongin right beside them. The mermaid had noticed Felix was just doing just fine and was lively and clearly not afraid of anything, Hyunjin was another story and could use all of the support he could get.
“My, my, what have we here?” A voice spoke from the shadows, quiet and eerie. “Christopher Bang and his lost boys. What can I do for you?”
The sunlight seeping through the windows didn’t reach the back corners of the shop, Seungmin couldn’t see the person speaking. They knew Chan’s birthname, and that made the hairs on the back of Seungmin’s neck stand up. Chan didn’t tell his birthname to anyone except his most trusted companions, and Seungmin was half-sure neither Minho nor Felix knew Chan’s actual name was Christopher as the latest members to join the crew.

Or maybe Minho knew. He always knew everything.

“You don’t happen to have found anything related to Flor de la Mar?” Chan asked. Hyunjin squeezed Seungmin’s hand, he didn’t like this place.
“I may have.” The person finally stepped in to the light from the corner. They were dressed completely in a black cloak and Seungmin couldn’t see their face from underneath the hood. Perhaps this person didn’t want to be seen. “You have stories surrounding you, you know? They think you have returned as a ghost.”
“Delightful.” Chan had a tiny smirk tugging the corner of his mouth. Seungmin knew it – the more terrifying the reputation, the more people would avoid them in conflicts.
“How did you take the Pirate Slayer down?” The person asked as they stepped in between some shelves, clearly looking for something.
“It’s a long story.”
“Ah, as every story.”

The person spoke in a slightly hushed tone, they passed Hyunjin and Seungmin, Hyunjin tried to hide himself behind Seungmin’s back.
“Ah, here!” The cloaked shopkeeper took a scroll from one of the shelves. “Listen to me carefully, Christopher Bang, captain of Calliope. What you are going to search for is not going to be an easy journey. The rumor has it that the captain of Flor de la Mar wasn’t completely human himself. Be prepared. For everything.”
Chan glanced at the shopkeeper before nodding and taking the scroll from them.
“How much?”
“For you, my dear, nothing. Visit me, if you happen to find something.”
“Will do. Thank you.”

***

“How did you do it?” Felix leaned his elbows against the table, clearly a little dazed already by the port wine. Changbin was no better next to him, nose all red and eyes constantly on his boyfriend. They were sitting in a tavern, in a corner around a round table, with the center of the table full of foods and drinks. Hyunjin leaned his head against Seungmin’s shoulder, still clinging to his arm as he listened to the clamor around them. The tavern wasn’t as loud as it could have been, but it wasn’t really quiet either.

Chan glanced at Minho who was sitting next to him. Those two always got the seats with their backs against the walls.
“We tracked it down. Or rather, Minho tracked it down. We followed it quietly and always from a large distance so that it was always a dot in the horizon. Then one night we happened to sail around one island as we knew Pirate Slayer was there and we noticed it was battling a smaller pirate ship, so we really had no choice but to attack it right then and there. We couldn’t waste the opportunity as it was already busy attacking one ship, so… we attacked. With full force. They had no idea what was coming as Minho had done his little tricks and we were engulfed in a mist for a short while.” Chan had a little grin tugging the corners of his mouth as he told Felix (and Hyunjin) how they had sunk Pirate Slayer. Seungmin could still remember it almost vividly, he had been one of the gunmen with Jeongin and they had got their heads nearly blown off of their shoulders by a cannonball. The fight hadn’t lasted long as the crew of Pirate Slayer, even if it was a big warship, hadn’t been expecting them at all and suddenly had to fight two crews, out of which one had bloodlust streaming through their veins as a retaliation for, well, everything. Changbin had been on fire that night and Seungmin could still remember how with one swift motion he had swiped the head off of the Pirate Slayer’s captain. After that it had been easy – take the captain down, and you’ll get the rest.

Just like on Euryale.

“We didn’t really heist the ship, just sunk it, blew a few holes in their ship and Minho did the rest.”
Minho nodded; “I exploded their gunpowder storage.”
“And that’s how we got rid of them. We made sure they sank properly and then left the scene. The smaller pirate ship had to sail quickly to the shore to get their ship in a better shape.”
“I remember the rumors”, Hyunjin suddenly mumbled. “Me and Felix, we heard them. Some ship with emerald green sails had sunk Pirate Slayer. They couldn’t believe it, the people in Queen Mary’s tavern. Said it was just the crown’s way of getting pirates back on the seas.”
Felix nodded along with Hyunjin. “We didn’t think anything of it back then… maybe we should have.”
“Is there anything else? Have you heard other sorts of rumors?” Chan asked, curious. Hyunjin shook his head, so did Felix.
“I mean, nothing related to us. Tortuga is always full of rumors”, Felix added, smiling.

The conversation flowed on, from the corner of his eye Seungmin could see a few more crewmembers of Calliope arriving at the same tavern. Chan had given around a million orders before the evening of what they had to do during the weekend to prepare for the journey ahead, and tomorrow Seungmin would have to go run around the city to find enough food supplies for them with the crewmembers Chan had assigned for him. Something easy, something that would last long, something that would keep the crew satisfied.

“Have you heard of it? The Dutch ship?”
“Huh?”
“The crew was found with their throats slit. All of them.”
“Huh?”
“Yeah. In Aruba. And that’s not all of it, they also had their eyes dug out.”
“Eyes?! Don’t sirens do that?”
“They do. And it is known that there have been sirens in Aruba, but they were all killed ten years ago. And sirens rarely get that close to humans, let alone to cities unless they’re forced there… I wonder what has happened in there.”
“Maybe a half-siren? Pretending to be a human?”
“Could be… and a few weeks back they found more people in Tortuga. Killed the same way, except for one. Whatever is killing men that brutally might be close.”

Seungmin could feel Hyunjin tensing up next to him. He was staring at the table in front of him, almost trembling. The others were listening to Jisung’s story about some annoying customer they had had in his and Minho’s little magic shop. Except for Minho, who eyed at the men talking on the table behind them, then at Hyunjin, and then at Seungmin. Chan seemed to be listening to the rumors as well instead of Jisung. He looked slightly worried.

“And the Lee boy is gone again!”
Felix’s attention clearly focused immediately on hearing his surname.
“Again?”
“Yeah. Seems like he’s turned into a full pirate. Ran from Port Royal to the seas. Good for him, I’d say. I wonder whose ship he’s sailing on now.”
“Good. I hope his ancestors are turning in their graves. The boy is taking Captain Seo’s revenge on his father by himself.”
“Did you hear the other rumors? About Captain Seo? Or not him, but his son?”
“No, what about him?”
“He’s been seen alive. With some other people from Euryale”
“Oh? That takes some good luck to survive from that kind of explosion.”
“Yup. I wonder what they’re doing now. Or where they’re going. And if they were behind the attack on Pirate Slayer.”
“I doubt it. It was some old crew, had to be. No rookie can create that much destruction, not on a warship like that. My guess is on Odysseus. Or Stheno, the third Captain Seo.”
“You might be right.”

By now all of them were listening to the men on the next table over. Chan looked like he was about to burst to laughter, so did Felix. Jeongin let out a light giggle. Hyunjin was still tense, clearly on edge and hadn’t heard anything else the men had said except for the bits about himself, and carefully Seungmin wrapped an arm around him.
“It’s alright, they don’t know it was you”, Seungmin mumbled very quietly against Hyunjin’s ear, pulling him a little closer. Hyunjin nodded, gaze glassy as he stared at the table in front of him.

“Wait, didn’t Captain Seo have a half-siren on board? That’s what the rumor said back then, years ago? Could it be-?”
“Alright, I think we should head for our ship, don’t you all think! Tomorrow is going to be a long day.” Chan stood up and loudly clapped his hands together to get the attention of the tavern keeper that he was ready to pay. The others looked a bit weirded out, but got ready to leave, anyway. Chan took his hat from the table and placed it on his head to indicate the others that he indeed was a captain, and a mighty one at that (as if the emerald green coat with golden embroideries wasn’t enough). Chan left a coin pouch on the table before hastily moving to Hyunjin’s other side to shield him from any looks as they all knew Hyunjin’s siren charms were seeping through his façade stronger than before.
“The dock isn’t far away, we’ll be fine”, Chan whispered to both Seungmin and Hyunjin.

***

Tortuga bid them goodbye with wind in their sails and a foamy trail on the waters they left behind. The crew had rested for a few days in the delightful little city of Tortuga, Seungmin had run around the town with a few crewmates to gather all of the supplies they needed for a two-month sail. He had got everything, luckily. So much water. So much rum. So much food. Barrels of salted meats, now they even had a few chickens living on the second storage deck to provide them with eggs through the journey. Good luck to whoever was in charge of taking care of them (it was Felix). Seungmin had never seen the storages as full as they were now. Part of him couldn’t wait to get his hands on all of the stuff they had bought, part of him knew they would have to be extremely strict with regulating the portions in case something would happen and their journey would be delayed.

Seungmin would have rather not run around Tortuga yesterday, though, because Hyunjin was clearly not feeling well. He didn’t really show it to others, but Seungmin could see it – he was jumpy. Again. He was constantly on the edge, or curled up into himself, especially when he didn’t have to be with the others. A very tiny part of Seungmin was glad that Hyunjin trusted him enough to let his true feelings show, but then again, he didn’t really say anything. He was just quieter than usually (and given that he was one of the loudest ones among their friends, it was noticeable, even to them), and when the two of them were alone Hyunjin was just… silent. Staring at the ocean, or at the wall, sometimes glancing at his own hands.

Right now he was hanging upside down from one of the beams on the main mast and tying the sail down and Seungmin glanced up at him with a growing concern. He knew Hyunjin was capable enough of doing just that. He was basically an acrobat. But Seungmin still couldn’t help the feeling. It was familiar, very familiar, that small concern whenever his boyfriend climbed up to the mast and did it very unsafely had been part of Seungmin for a very long time. He could still remember when before the three-year separation, even before Hyunjin and Seungmin had got together, Jeongin had had to assure him that the half-siren was just fine and if anyone would be capable of pulling such tricks up in the air, it was Hyunjin.

“He’s fine, Seungmin.” And once again the half-mermaid patted Seungmin on his shoulder.
“I’m sure he is”, Seungmin mumbled, Jeongin simply grinned at him. His eyes were of light lavender, he was clearly excited for their upcoming journey. So was Seungmin, to be fair. He just wanted to get out of the Caribbean Sea for a while. For as long as it needed for Hyunjin to heal.

Changbin was steering the wheel, Jisung and Felix were hunched over the compass table and counting bearings together next to him. Chan was beside them, more of talking to a few crewmates than listening to Felix and Jisung. The plan was to sail across the Atlantic, then down the African coast and past Cape of Good Will, all the way to the Indian Ocean and then to Singapore. They would take the risk and use trade routes as they were not going to heist any ships, and Calliope was probably faster than any of the ships guarding the bigger cargo ships, anyway. Full sails and ahead, that’s what Chan had shouted just moments ago before the crew had started to buzz around the decks to get the sails into their full glory.

Seungmin wanted to get Hyunjin’s thoughts elsewhere, and that was why, as the evening approached, he snuck into their food storages (it wasn’t really sneaking around as he and Luisa were the only ones with access to it) and gathered a basket full of, well, everything. After that he got one of the spare blankets they had in the storages and as everyone had gone to sleep except for Jisung at the helm and the lookout in the crow’s nest, he tiptoed to the upper quarter deck, just underneath the large ornament with three huge, lit torches and set everything down. A little picnic. Just to get Hyunjin’s thoughts elsewhere.

After that he went to fetch the half-siren from Jeongin’s little cabin where he was spending his time, away from everything and everyone. Hyunjin looked a bit confused as Seungmin (maybe a little awkwardly), asked him to follow him, and together they made their way from the storage deck all the way to the upper quarter deck (and Seungmin didn’t miss the knowing smirk he got from Jisung as they passed him).
“What is this, Kim Seungmin?” Hyunjin breathed out as he saw the few small candles, a basket and a blanket in the shadows of the rear ornament.
“It’s… um, for you. For us. I thought you might want something… I don’t know”, Seungmin mumbled, he could feel the tips of his ears getting red. He was so bad at… things like these. So bad at feelings. At talking. He heard Hyunjin lightly chuckle next to him, before he wrapped his arms around his neck and brought him a little closer. Seungmin’s hands found their way to Hyunjin’s waist in no time.

“I know, I know. You’ve been worried about me but can’t find the words”, Hyunjin muttered before pressing a small kiss on Seungmin’s lips. Seungmin nodded, Hyunjin saw right through him.
“I just thought… Just like… before.” Before everything. Before Euryale’s sinking, before the three-year separation, when they had spent nights together curled up next to each other at the upper quarter deck of Euryale and thought they had the entire world at their feet. And for a moment, they had. Just like before, when everything hadn’t yet broken to pieces.
“You are so...” Hyunjin had a slightly sad smile on his face, before he leaned in for another kiss. “I don’t deserve you”, he whispered, and that broke Seungmin’s heart, just a little.
“Yes, you do”, Seungmin protested. “C’mon, I missed dinner for this, let’s sit down.”

They sat down, backs against the bumps of the rear ornament, the entire ship ahead of them. They were so high up that they only saw the masts and the horizon, where the darkening sky mixed in with the sea, creating an endless void that was the destination of their sail. Seungmin could still hear seagulls as they weren’t that far from the land, otherwise it was just them, the breath of wind in the sails and the occasional laughter from the crew’s quarters. Seungmin laid out the picnic basket in front of them, handed Hyunjin a piece of bread that he had just a few hours ago baked. It had been covered by a towel and therefore it was still a bit warm from the inside.

“Are you really doing all of this when we literally have a cabin just for the two of us?” Hyunjin asked, a few wisps of hair had fallen from his ponytail. Seungmin tugged them behind his ear.
“Yes. Our cabin doesn’t have a view to the horizon.”
Hyunjin giggled, before he pulled Seungmin down to sit next to him.
“You have flour on your shirt”, he mumbled before patting it away from the front of Seungmin’s white shirt.
“As if that’s an odd occurrence”, Seungmin gently smiled. It was just the two of them and the quietness, and suddenly Seungmin wanted really badly to make this evening perfect.
“Not really, my dearest little cook.” After that Seungmin got another kiss on his lips, and perhaps he pulled Hyunjin a little closer and didn’t let go of him immediately.

That was how their evening went by. It was calm and quiet, it felt as if they were in their completely own small world, which was rather unusual, given that they lived on a ship with almost fifty other people and privacy wasn’t something that people got very often. They shared kisses, they shared the bread, the grapes, the small glasses of wine Seungmin had brought them, then they shared more kisses, and for a moment everything was alright. Everything was back to normal, as it had been three years ago. And perhaps that same grip started to take hold of Seungmin, that grip that nearly made him topple over with the overwhelming emotions he got from it. He was ready to do absolutely everything in his power for the boy in front of him. He was ready to fight the entire world for him, just as it had been three years ago. He truly, wholeheartedly loved him, despite everything.

If only he would have had the words for it. If only would he have dared to say it out loud, as Hyunjin leaned in for another kiss, nose a bit ruddy from the wine, his touch hot on Seungmin’s skin.
“You’re the best thing that has ever happened to me, you know?” Seungmin mumbled against Hyunjin’s lips. That was all he could muster up from himself in that moment. Hyunjin seemed to be stupefied for a brief moment, before warmth spread over his features. He knew, he understood, that was Seungmin’s way of saying ‘I love you’ a thousand times.
“As you are to me.”

***

“The crew has been talking”, Chan mumbled from behind his desk, Seungmin and Hyunjin were standing on the other side of it. He had a few maps in front of him, the other a very detailed one from the coast of Sumatra, the other one of the trade routes they were headed towards. Seungmin could feel Hyunjin tensing up next to him.
“What have they been talking about?” The half-siren whispered, even if all three of them knew damn well the answer.
“You. They just don’t know it’s you who they’re talking about.”
Seungmin squeezed Hyunjin’s hand in his.
“I’m sorry Hyunjin, I… if I had known the word had already traveled so far, we would have stopped by somewhere else.” Chan looked guilty. Seungmin felt guilty. That same guilt was once again taking hold of him. Hyunjin simply shook his head.
“It’s not your fault. I… I should have known the word would travel when… when I killed the four pirates.”
“Three. Felix killed one. He told me.”
“Felix knows?” Hyunjin whimpered.
“He guessed, I’m fairly sure the others have connected the dots, too. It’s only a matter of time before the crew does that as well since half-sirens, or sirens that have ventured to the world of men are rather unusual here.”
As they were anywhere else. Sirens kept to themselves, their only purpose was to lure sailors into their deaths if they encountered humans.

Hyunjin looked at the ground and nodded. He was afraid to lift his gaze up, Seungmin knew it.
“Hyunjin… You know, even if they know, they’re not going to think of you any differently.”
Hyunjin shook his head, Seungmin knew he wasn’t really listening and moved just a tiny bit closer, squeezing his hand again.
“You were protecting yourself. All of us, every single person on this ship has killed in order to survive, your story is not different from that. The amount of bodies stop mattering after number one with the way we live. I can’t say there wouldn’t have been another way out, at least not from the situation in Tortuga from what I’ve understood and what Felix told me, but regardless of that, the only thing that matters is that you are alive and with us now.”
Hyunjin nodded again, still refusing to look at the captain.

“What if they want me out?” He then whispered.
“Who?”
“The crew.”
“This ship can sail with eight people if that’s the case. No one is leaving, no one is being kicked out. Besides, you’re not the only one with siren blood on this ship, remember that. Yeonjun could be just as much a danger as you, but neither of you are that right now.”
“But what if we will be? What if I will be? What if I snap again?”
“Hyunjin, you were under an extremely stressful situation. You were scared and in so much pain, anyone would snap at that point, no matter a human or half something or not. You are not in danger in here, and I have my whole trust that you won’t be faced with such situations that could make you snap, at least not on these decks.”

“You seem to have quite a lot of trust in me.” Hyunjin finally looked up, the smile on his face so sad it wrenched Seungmin’s heartstrings. “When I can’t even trust myself.” The whisper was so quiet it was hard to hear with the clamor coming from outside. Seungmin could see how Hyunjin was fighting the tears.

“I’m afraid, captain. Every single morning, I wake up, terrified to my core that the siren in me has taken over in the dark of the night and I wake up with Seungmin next to me, eyes gouged out and throat slit. I can’t get rid of the nightmares. They just don’t stop. I don’t know how to stop them, I don’t know how to stop myself, I… I can’t control the siren.”
“Hyunjin…”, the breath escaped through Seungmin’s lips as he looked at the boy next to him, almost shocked. Sure, he had known Hyunjin had bad dreams, but he hadn’t… he hadn’t known…
“Captain, I need to ask you for something. I need you to promise me something.”
Chan nodded, concern written all over his features.
“If one morning… If one morning I wake up and… I have done something to Seungmin, or anyone, I need you to kill me. No matter what I say. No matter what the siren says.”
“Hyunjin!” Seungmin gasped.
“I need you to stop me, Chan, because if I do something to Seungmin, then I will be too far gone, and I need you to stop me.”
Chan stared at Hyunjin for a moment that seemed to last for an eternity.
“I promise”, he then breathed out, quietly.
“Thank you”, Hyunjin whispered, lower lip quivering.
“Hyunjin…”
Hyunjin finally let Seungmin pull him into a hug, and Seungmin hoped the hug was so tight it could fix whatever had broken inside of Hyunjin.

Chan dismissed them, and with shaky steps Seungmin led Hyunjin outside, down the stairs to the main deck and in through the kitchen door. He could feel it, the stares, on his back. He could hear the whispers, too. The dots were being connected, there weren’t many half-sirens on these seas as it was certain the one who had killed the Dutch crew and the men in Tortuga was at least somehow related to sirens, and now two of those people related to sirens were on their ship. One of them having spent time in Tortuga at the time of the killings. The crew knew, and soon they would ask questions.

As they got back to their room, Hyunjin slumped down on the bed, buried his face in his hands.
“I’m sorry Seungmin”, he whispered, Seungmin only sat down next to me and pulled him into a tight hug. “I’m, I’m sorry, I, I should have, I should have told you-, M-maybe we should- we shouldn’t sleep together, I could- there are still empty spaces and-“
Seungmin took Hyunjin’s hand in his, almost forcing him to look him in the eyes.
“Hyunjin, I’m not afraid of you.”
“You should be.”

Seungmin closed his eyes for a second, breathed in.
“Chan is right, you know. You were threatened, you protected yourself. You won’t be facing such situations in here.”
“You don’t know that”, Hyunjin whispered, a tear rolling down his cheek.
“Yes, I do, because I’m going to protect you.”
Hyunjin opened his mouth, tried to search for words, but then simply shook his head.
“And what if it’s me attacking you?”
“That won’t happen, Hyunjin.”
“Won’t it? It already did.”
“When you were in a space that couldn’t be reached. You thought you were going to die. You thought I was gone, you could have never imagined me walking up to you on the decks of Liberty. Hyunjin, I’m not scared of you. Your siren side comes out when you feel like you’re in danger. We’re going to make sure you won’t feel that way.”
“Seungmin, I-“
“Hyunjin. I’m serious. Stop pushing me away.”
Hyunjin’s mouth snapped close. The look in his eyes was almost unreadable, grief mixed with adoration, and that mixed with fear so deep Seungmin couldn’t really understand it. But he’d try.

“I’m a monster, Seungmin”, Hyunjin then breathed out. He was shaking. “It’s… it’s just… everyone talks of me being a half-siren like it’s two different sides. It’s... It’s not two different sides. It’s me. It’s a whole. I am half a siren, the siren is in me, and it is part of me, it is a part of me all the time, every single day. It’s not something that only snaps out when in danger, I am a half-siren all the time. I’m a monster, Seungmin. Can you really protect one? Can you really love one?”
“Hyunjin, you could never be a monster to me.”

***

No one said anything. None of the crew, none of their friends, they didn’t say anything. Seungmin heard the whispers, though. No one whispered when Hyunjin was present, but Seungmin did hear the whispering when he was not, that was the downside of working in the kitchen all the time. Their friends kept their mouth shut, luckily. If something gave away that they knew, it was the way they were even… more affectionate with Hyunjin than before. Or rather, Felix and Jeongin were. Felix was being very cuddly throughout the weeks (to be fair, he was like that with everyone and Seungmin guessed it was because Felix had thought they were all dead and now they were not and he probably still had a hard time grasping all of that so he was making sure they were all real).

Apart from the earlier outburst, Hyunjin seemed… normal. Except now he didn’t even try to hide the fact that he had nightmares, and more than once Seungmin woke up to Hyunjin clutching his shirt and weeping in his sleep against his shoulder. He wouldn’t get violent in his sleep, Seungmin knew that. He trusted that. He had snapped out before, he would do that again, Seungmin trusted Hyunjin and his ability to control the siren in him, even if the boy himself didn’t believe that.

One evening, after Hyunjin had already fallen asleep, Seungmin hadn’t been able to sleep, and he had wandered outside. Changbin had been on the helm, one of the other crewmembers up in the air to look out for any approaching ships through the night. Seungmin had sat on the compass table, next to Changbin, and they had simply stared at the horizon in front of them in shared silence. Shared, because both of them knew what the other had been thinking. Just like they had done back then. After the explosion. Only this time, the two weren’t grieving.

“Is he alright?” Changbin had asked after many quiet moments.
“No. I don’t think he will be in a long time. The world hasn’t been kind to him”, Seungmin had answered, truthfully. “How about Felix?” he then had asked.
“He’s fine. I think that sometimes he still thinks he’s dreaming. He’s worried for Hyunjin.”
“Aren’t we all?”
“We are. I hope the… change of place will do him good.”
“Mmhm. I hope so too.”

After that the silence had continued for a little while, and then Seungmin had left back to sleep. There was comfort in Changbin’s presence. No one else understood Seungmin like he did. He didn’t demand Seungmin to speak, he simply stood there, turning the wheel, letting them both bask in the moonlight in a shared silence. It was comforting. They both had been through so much, lost so much, found so much, and now they probably still felt a little lost. And who didn’t, in the middle of the ocean like this?

***

“Are you ready?” Felix exclaimed as he nearly kicked down the stool nearest to him as he rushed into the kitchen, Jeongin after him.
“For what?” Seungmin mumbled, mouth full of food. He hadn’t had time to eat during dinner so now he and Hyunjin were sitting alone in the kitchen, Seungmin still eating.
“Sparring! I’m going to teach you all some new moves!” Felix’s eyes were twinkling in the dim of the kitchen. Seungmin could feel Hyunjin stiffening next to him.
“Now?”
“Yes!”
“With whom?”
“Everyone!”
“Everyone?”
“Yes! Everyone! Every single member of the crew! Except Changbin, he’s on the helm but I’m going to teach him later.”
“I’m sure you are”, Hyunjin mumbled into his cup of water (which was Seungmin’s cup of water, actually). Felix rolled his eyes, he already had a sword on his hip. It wasn’t a secret, everybody knew the two hadn’t ceased their little sparring sessions in the storage decks at the dead of the night.
“C’mon, you two! We’re going over the basics first, so you won’t need to do much.”
“Alright, alright, we’re coming!”

And that was how they ended up on the quarter deck, leaning against the compass table as Felix instructed the crew of what to do. The fucking feathers. Seungmin could remember how sick of the feathers he had been when Felix had taught the seven of them back on Euryale. Yes, he knew that his steps needed to be light in order for him to attack better, but gods, was it tiring. Felix looked so excited as the crew had gathered around him in a circle, and he, in the middle of them all, explained what to do, how to do it, and why. Seungmin glanced to his right and found Changbin staring at his boyfriend with the fondest little smile on his face. Seungmin was about to throw a snarky comment to him to remember to steer the ship instead of staring at the little sword master, but Hyunjin cut him off.

“I’m not sure if I can do this”, Hyunjin mumbled from beside him, clutching on to the hem of his shirt. His sword was on the table, he hadn’t touched it after choosing it.
“You can, Hyunjin. We’ll take baby steps. I’ll be with you the whole time.” Seungmin glanced at the half-siren next to him with a gentle quirk in the corner of his mouth. Hyunjin looked nervous.
“But what if-“
“There’s no what if. We’ll go slow and take space to the others, we can even go to the upper quarter deck, if you want.”
Hyunjin nodded, and for a moment Seungmin felt bad for pushing the boy. But he’d have to. Of course he’d stop if it looked like Hyunjin would actually get very uncomfortable, but he had to get out of his comfort zone in order to get over his fear of himself.
“And we can ask Jeongin to accompany us, if you want”, Seungmin added. He knew Hyunjin found comfort in the mermaid boy. Hyunjin shook his head.
“It’s fine. Let’s just… take a bit of space to the others.”

So they did. The sun was slowly starting to set, the wind wasn’t as strong as it had been through the day. They had left the Caribbean two days ago and were sailing in complete isolation, no islands in sight, through the Atlantic. It was scary, but Seungmin had done it before, multiple times, actually. It was nothing he wasn’t used to. The sails above them rustled in the wind, they could already hear blades clattering against each other on the main deck as Felix gave the crew the cue to go. It was just Hyunjin and Seungmin on the upper quarter deck as the other crewmembers had taken space for them from the lower decks.

The sword in Seungmin’s hand fit him well, the weight of it was familiar. Hyunjin made a few slashes through the air, careful and calculative as he tried the weight of the sword, tried to adjust to the feeling again. Hyunjin had been one of their best swordsmen, and Seungmin had all of the faith that he’d reach that status again. The siren in him was more sensitive to the movements of the opponent, Seungmin had figured years ago, that was why he was so good.

“Alright, feathers, you two!” Felix’s voice called out to them as he stood on the stairs leading to the lower deck, almost laughing at the look of misery that passed over Seungmin’s features.
“Don’t take it too seriously, just get used to it again, I bet you all have been slacking with me gone for three years!” Felix laughed as he disappeared back to the lower decks, leaving the two of them alone again.

“You heard what he said”, Seungmin smiled at his beloved. Hyunjin nodded, took his stance, and slashed forwards. Not too quick, not too dangerous, just enough for Seungmin to answer to it. The blades clanked against each other, steel against steel.
“Good. On your right”, Seungmin said. He knew he had to keep it as non-threatening as possible for now, no surprises, so he told in advance to Hyunjin what he was going to do. That way Hyunjin would have time to prepare.

And slowly, slowly Seungmin could see Hyunjin adjusting. His movements got a little sharper. He started concentrating, the nervous mess he had earlier been slowly turning to a collected one. He was still nervous, sure, he was careful, but he started remembering the patterns he had used before, his footing got better, more certain. Soon Seungmin found himself having to back off from Hyunjin all the time, step away from him as he laid an attack after an attack on him. Not seriously, Seungmin could see that, but he was trying himself. Testing himself. Seungmin had to duck, he had to dodge, he had to stop Hyunjin’s blade midways just for the half-siren to turn around and continue his attack from the other side with a mischievous glint in his eyes.

“Okay, okay, let me catch my breath!” Seungmin had to call off the sparring after a good moment as Hyunjin really started to make him work for it. Hyunjin simply giggled, clearly not out of breath at all, swung his sword in the air a few times. Seungmin leaned against the railing of the upper quarter deck, looked down where the other crewmembers were doing just the same. Even Chan was, he had been paired with Rubye, and the captain was clearly at a disadvantage. No wonder, Rubye was scary and the best swordswoman they had. All of this was child’s play to her, but apparently she had wanted to take part in the little session, anyway.

“Feeling good?” Seungmin asked, Hyunjin nodded. Happiness and relief bloomed in Seungmin’s chest.
“Great, let’s continue then.”

And once again it was Seungmin running away from Hyunjin and having to dodge the attacks, even if he tried his best to dive for the attacks as Hyunjin did. At some point Seungmin stopped telling Hyunjin which way he was going, but nothing changed – Hyunjin could see it, he could read Seungmin like an open book of which way he was going next, and Seungmin wouldn’t have had it any other way. Seungmin was pretty certain that Felix came to tell them something at some point, but both of them were way too busy to listen to him, so they still continued dancing through the upper quarter deck, blades clashing against each other. Maybe it wasn’t just feathers anymore and working on the footwork as it should have been, maybe it was Hyunjin testing his limits and Seungmin letting him do so.

But he was getting tired. Hyunjin was, had been, and would always be the better one of them with blades, and his stamina was something unreachable to Seungmin as he was always working in the kitchen while Hyunjin was climbing the masts and running up and down the stairs (and well, the siren thing). Seungmin felt like he was drenched in sweat from head to toe while Hyunjin had a few teeny tiny beads of sweat glimmering on his forehead, and for a moment Seungmin cursed the gods of making his soulmate so ethereally beautiful.

Which was why, during the next attack Hyunjin sent his way, Seungmin dove from underneath his arm, but instead of retreating to the other side of the deck, he grabbed Hyunjin by his waist and spun him around, pressed his lips on Hyunjin’s lips before the other one had time to react. He felt how Hyunjin melted into the kiss before bursting into a fit of giggles. His sword dropped on the deck with a loud clank as his fingers curled to hold Seungmin’s shirt.

“You can’t do that in order to defeat me”, Hyunjin giggled as they parted.
“Yes I can, it seems to work just fine”, Seungmin smiled before pecking Hyunjin’s lips once more.
“You are insufferable. What happened to the shy little Seungmin I had three years ago?”
“He lost too much”, and just like that, the atmosphere had turned from the light one to a slightly sad one, so Seungmin decided to kiss it away.
“You are sweaty and nasty”, Hyunjin breathed out against Seungmin’s lips as they parted again.
“You aren’t, but I still think we should take a bath.”
“Oh, we definitely should.”

***

The sparring sessions were doing wonders to Hyunjin. After a few times Hyunjin dared finally to take a step forward and battle with someone else than Seungmin, that someone being Changbin (as no one else except him and Chan and Felix could really keep up with him). Seungmin got Jeongin as his opponent along with some other crewmembers. Felix had taken Will under his wing, he was the youngest one from their crew and had run away from his parents, just as Felix had. He was of noble blood, too, and therefore he already knew everything Felix was teaching to them, which only made him some sort of substitute teacher (and a menace, because if Felix was hard on them, then Will was even worse).

That’s how their sail went. There were good days, there were bad days, most of them were from somewhere in between. Some days were cloudy and the waves were high, some days the sun shone on them so hard Seungmin could feel the heat from the decks all the way to his dim little kitchen which was usually a rather pleasant place to be in terms of heat. On some days Hyunjin was jumpy, clinging to Seungmin and on some days he was laughing with the crew, cracking jokes and being… himself. The crew got used to him, they got used to the siren charms seeping through the cracks as was bound to happen. They no longer affected the crew as long as Hyunjin didn’t make use of his charms. Or something. Seungmin didn’t really know how it worked.

Weeks seemed to pass in the blink of an eye, soon it had been over a month, two months ever since the heist of Liberty, in which Felix and Hyunjin had found their way home. And now a new adventure was waiting for them as they passed by the Cape of Good Hope in the farthest proximity possible as it was known that there were mermaids in the waters close to the shore. Jeongin had stared at the sea, listened to his kind talking through the waves and as Chan had asked if they had anything to fear, he had shaken his head. They were fortunate. Some ships were not, that was the rumor, and that rumor was known to be true.

Hyunjin got better as the days passed. He no longer wept through his nights, sometimes he still had nightmares, but mostly he slept in peace and that was visible to the outsider. He got brighter. He smiled more, he started to let his guards down as he realized that the crew most definitely knew what had happened to him, but no one was going to ask about it. Confront him about it. Of course they wouldn’t, Seungmin had known that, but Hyunjin had feared the worst. It had been a Dutch cargo ship. They heisted those kinds of ships; their little pirate crew was no better. The only difference was that Hyunjin had killed all of the crewmembers on his own, which probably unsettled some members of the crew, but the rest were just curious. Especially Rubye, who seemed to be extremely intrigued by the half-siren whose swording skills were getting better day after day, faster than anyone else’s.

One peaceful evening a knock sounded from the kitchen door and Chan stepped in, waving for Seungmin to come along with him. They had entered the waters of Indian Ocean a week ago, and all of the crew knew that most of the long journey was over. Singapore wasn’t far away, two, three weeks sail at most if the winds weren’t kind to them. They had been so far, Calliope had sailed through the seas in peace and passed by dozens of cargo ships and merchant ships hastily and quietly to not attract any attention.

Seungmin followed the captain to his cabin, where he found the other six of their friends already seated. Hyunjin made him space on the sofa and Seungmin squished himself in between Jeongin and his dearest.
“Singapore is nearing. I think it’s best to try to… think about our next heading. Where to start looking”, Chan said as he laid the scroll he had got from the shopkeeper on the small table before sitting down on the armchair in between two sofas.
“What do you need us for? Aren’t you the captain?” Jisung muttered, clearly joking. Chan glanced at him:
“This isn’t my treasure hunt, it’s our treasure hunt.”
“Aw, you do love us!”
Chan had been busy with his maps and books and endless scrolls lately as he had tried to make sense out of the seas they were about to enter, that was why he hadn’t really had time for his friends. Sure, they had sailed across Indian Ocean and around Singapore, but still… Caribbean was familiar. These seas weren’t.
“Occasionally, yes. Anyway, we need to decipher what the hell is going on and where to go next unless we want to blindly start searching through the little islands that Flor de la Mar passed on her travels.”

Minho was the first one to reach for the scroll, he was sitting opposite to Seungmin on Jisung’s right side. Always on the right side, so he wouldn’t have to yell at Jisung since he couldn’t hear properly with his left ear anymore. He could still hear with it, yes, but not as well as before, and that was half of the reason why he stood behind in sword battles nowadays. He had always leaned so much on his hearing in a battle, and now his perfect hearing had been taken from him.

“Follow the stars. The instructions are in a cold and a dark place no human can enter.”

“God I fucking hate riddles! Just give me the damn map!” Jisung groaned as he slumped against the backrest of the sofa.
“Cold and dark place?” Seungmin asked.
“The north? Do we need to go to the north?” Jeongin took the scroll from Minho and read it over again. “It would be easier to decipher this if we knew where this is even from. For all we know it could be just… a scroll.”
“I trust the shopkeeper. They wouldn’t give the scroll to me unless it would help”, Chan said, taking the scroll in turn.
“Who were they even?” Felix asked, curious.
“They were the one that brought me up. I used to live in that shop until I decided to join a pirate crew.”
“Huh?” Seungmin had to admit it, he didn’t really know all that much of Chan’s background except that he was a pure sailor at heart and had taken over the crew of Euryale by a storm as the youngest one to become the quartermaster.
“So are they like... your parent?” Changbin clearly didn’t know much of Chan’s background either.
Chan shrugged: “Sort of. They’re the only parent I can remember ever having.”
“Oh. Alright.”
“I uh… decided to not really talk about them because me being a captain might put them in danger.”
The others nodded, understanding.

“Anyway”, Chan clapped his hands together once to signal a change of topic. “Any ideas?”
“The message is short and not very clear. Follow the stars, the stars will lead to a place that is cold and dark and that place can’t be entered by humans”, Changbin repeated the message on the scroll. “And that place is going to give us the instructions to the actual treasure, I suppose. A map, maybe. What is cold and dark and along the way of Flor de la Mar?”
The eight of them glanced at each other, Felix pouted as he tried to think for an answer.
“A cave”, Hyunjin then muttered under his breath.
Jeongin’s face lit up: “A cave, that’s right! What else could be cold and dark but accessible except a cave? These climates aren’t cold in general, so it has to be something that’s either high up or down low, and I doubt the captain of Flor de la Mar has hid his map in a mountain since there aren’t really any close by. It has to be a cave!”
“That can be accessed by no human?” Seungmin didn’t like that part. Chan rose up, fetched a few maps from his bookshelf, laid them out on the table in between them. A map of the stars. And a map of the coast they were heading for.
“The rumor has it that the captain himself was not entirely human, so it would make sense if he’d want to hide it from… well, anyone”, Jeongin pondered out loud.

Felix and Jisung moved seats to take a look at the maps better.
“Do you have better star charts? Do you have the one Changbin did in Singapore?” Jisung asked, Chan ran back to the shelf and pulled out another scroll from beneath at least a hundred scrolls.
“Were you that bored?” Felix mumbled, grinning to the quartermaster and got a “Yes” in return. Jisung took the chart from Chan, Seungmin had no idea what was going on, he was still hung up on that non-human part. That couldn’t really mean anything good in this context. Or maybe it would. Hyunjin pressed his cheek against Seungmin’s shoulder, he was growing tired as the night approached, he had had a lookout shift last night.

“Look, here.” Jisung mumbled, pointed at a few stars. Felix looked at what Jisung was pointing at, before his mouth fell open.
“Oh my god”, he mumbled.
“What?” Chan asked.
“The stars. They align.” Jisung took the maps and set them right side by side. “These three islands align with these stars. They’re in the same place in the maps. Follow the stars!” Jisung nearly yelled, he was excited for what he had found. Soon the two charters had the six of them behind their shoulders to see what they had found. And true to his words, there were three stars in exact same places as the islands on the map.

“How do we know which one is right?” Changbin asked.
“It’s none of these. Follow the stars, follow the islands. It’s a pointer. An arrow. And it points here.” Felix poked the map with his finger. “A fourth island underneath them.”

***

The night was fast approaching as the lights of Singapore came to view from behind the bay it was situated in. Seungmin could feel it, how excited the crew was to get to land and to eat something else than salted pork and beans which had been their meal for the past week along with porridge. And they were running out of the meat, too, so the stop in Singapore came just at the right time.

It had been roughly a year, if not a little less since Calliope had left Singapore behind and sailed across the seas to the Caribbean. Seungmin didn’t really miss it, the pirate haven was fine, it was just… well, it was the same as staying in Tortuga. Lawless. Wild. Yet still so precious, still so secure as one could be whatever they wanted on those streets.

Half of Singapore had been built on water. Seungmin could see in between the lights reflecting against the water, the countless bridges and roads that led further into the city, then turning into a wild jungle. As their ship got closer to the large docks of Singapore, Seungmin started to hear the singing, the music, the clamor of the city, and it sounded comforting. After two months on the seas, it sounded comforting. Welcoming. Perhaps, as much as Seungmin loved the crew of Calliope, he had missed… other people. The feeling of not being completely isolated from the rest of the world.

Hyunjin tugged the hem of Seungmin’s shirt, they were standing at the forecastle deck as were many other crewmembers who hadn’t yet been called to take the sails down. He looked nervous, Seungmin pulled him a little closer.
“What are you thinking about?” He murmured, quietly, he didn’t need others hearing their conversation.
“The last time I was here”, Hyunjin mumbled. Seungmin hummed, Hyunjin had told that Singapore itself was just fine, it didn’t remind him of too many things, but… he had made some bad decisions. And once again Seungmin remembered, he had been close. So close. They had been in Singapore at the same time, for goodness’ sake, Seungmin, Chan, Changbin and Jeongin had lived there, at the edge of the city for gods knew how long, and Hyunjin had visited Singapore during that time! If only, if only…

“I know what you’re thinking. Stop thinking it”, Hyunjin muttered. Seungmin gave him a small, lopsided smile and got a kiss on the corner of his mouth.
“Take all of the sails down! We’re dropping the anchor at the furthest docks, Calliope won’t fit closer to the city!” And that way they would be safe from robbers. Ironic. Hyunjin left from beside Seungmin, Seungmin watched as he slung himself on the shrouds holding the sails and climbed up, up, up to the mast to the highest boom. Every time, every time Seungmin saw him do that, nervousness stirred inside his guts.

But Seungmin had things to do, so he had to leave Hyunjin to do his job as he walked over the decks and into the kitchen.
“Here’s the list, take it to the captain.” Luisa handed Seungmin a list of things they were running out of, so Seungmin took a sharp turn on his heels and ran back to the main deck. Chan was shouting orders behind the helm, Changbin next to him looking important and Felix next to him looking a little less important with his jaw had dropped, he was staring at the approaching city with so much wonder in his eyes that Seungmin was pretty certain he had never seen anyone so awestruck.

“Captain.” Seungmin handed the list to Chan.
“Thank you. Rest for tonight, we’ll go get the stuff tomorrow.” Chan took the list and handed it to Changbin. Jisung and Minho rose to the quarter deck as well, Viola was sitting on Minho’s shoulder.
“Who’s in charge of guarding the ship?” Jisung asked as he walked up to their little group that was missing two people. Seungmin heard Minho saying something along the lines of “A fly is going to get into your mouth if you won’t close it” to Felix.

Singapore never slept. That was one thing Seungmin had learned during the year they had lived in the city in question. There was always something going on, some tavern open, some sort of clash of crews going on. It wasn’t unusual to see some drunken sailor being thrown from one of the many bridges into the waters below. The only time he had seen Singapore relatively quiet was right at the breaking of dawn, if he happened to be far enough from the center.

The sight of the city brought back a lot of memories. He could remember how he and Changbin had sat in shared silence on the large rocks at the edge of the city as their little house had been close to them. And well, it wasn’t that little, it had been a decent house. Still probably was. Changbin had known a guy and they had given them a key to the house after hearing their heartbreaking story, and that was where they had lived. Grieved. Decided to start a new life.

Seungmin held Hyunjin’s hand as they stepped down the gangway to the pier of Singapore. He could immediately hear it, feel it, the attention on them. Calliope was magnificent, it was huge and almost glimmered in the faint moonlight, and it wasn’t like the crews in Singapore didn’t know who they were. The word had surely traveled, and the people in Singapore would recognize the description of a huge ship with emerald sails sinking the Pirate Slayer as they had seen the ship being built. Not only that, Chan himself was already somewhat infamous in Singapore as he had got fed up with a few former pirates that referred to themselves as ‘pirate kings’, stolen all of their belongings in the dead of the night and made them do the walk of shame back to their ships in the morning.

And then there was the whole battle of Singapore years ago where the Dutch and Brits had teamed up together and tried to take over Singapore. They hadn’t succeeded, and had left the city alone after that, even if they tried to guard the seas around it. The celebration after the pirates had won by a landslide was something Seungmin would never be able to forget.

Hyunjin stepped a tad bit closer to Seungmin, Chan walked in front of them with a proud grin on his face, the tricorne hat on his black curls. It was all eight of them again walking through the docks, listening to the yells and whispers from the other pirates. They had decided to go together as it was wiser, who knew what kind of grudges the people in the city would hold against them as they had no idea who was in it in the first place. Seungmin saw a few familiar ships docked in front of Singapore, they belonged to the crews that rarely left these seas. And why would they, when there was as much to heist here as everywhere else, if not even more?

“I’m… Seungmin, I’m…” Seungmin heard Hyunjin mutter under his breath.
“It’s alright, I’m here, I’ll keep you safe”, Seungmin mumbled to him, squeezing his hand as an affirmation. Seungmin truly hoped their night would go well, he didn’t need any more attention to their little group than they already had. He knew Hyunjin’s entire being mixed with Chan and Changbin’s fame would bring them a lot of gazes and whispers all throughout their stay.

While Tortuga was chaos in the form of a city, Singapore was more organized. It had to be, as it was much more cramped, there weren’t large marketplaces, all of the stalls were aligned in neat rows along the roads and piers and bridges. Singapore looked beautiful under the moonlight as the countless torches and lanterns shone against the waters below them. And it was a pretty city. At least to a certain point. There was beauty in its chaos, beauty in its dangers, in the shabbiness of the houses and sturdiness of the bridges. Singapore was beautiful. And it was dangerous.

Felix was in awe, he hung on to Changbin’s arm and pulled him along from every little stall to another once again. Seungmin could hear multiple languages around him, mixing up into a mess that made no sense to him. And he could hear the mumbles, he could feel the stares the half-siren next to him got as the charms seeped through his composure, luring people in. They walked along the roads, piers, whatever they were called, occasionally stepping on actual land. The rest of the crew had headed to their own ways before them, a few had stayed behind to guard the ship through the night. Chan led them through the main street to a smaller street, he knew this city by heart as he knew Tortuga, Seungmin knew it. And soon they arrived at that one small tavern that they had visited way too many times during their stay in Singapore.

Chan got an armful of the tavern keeper as soon as he recognized them. Then they got a private room of their own and had to tell the entire story of how they had found Felix and Hyunjin and Minho and Jisung because the tavern keeper knew who they were, he had heard the stories, he had watched Changbin and Seungmin sob into their jugs of port wine more than once. Then he had told them how bad they were with handling emotions and taught them to talk. Seungmin hadn’t really learned, he just… he just wasn’t the talkative type, and Hyunjin understood that.

The food tasted amazing after a week of porridge and salted pork, Seungmin didn’t dare to drink, neither did Hyunjin. The tavern treated them well, as was expected. It was a small one, dimly lit and the roof hung low above them, there weren’t too many people around. It was comforting. Seungmin could feel his guards falling, little by little, and Hyunjin seemed to get a little more comfortable, too. He still didn’t once let go of Seungmin’s hand, though, and neither did Seungmin of his.

Their evening passed by delightfully, Seungmin was happy to see something else besides endless horizon for one night, and he knew so were the others. Yes, they all loved sailing very much, but seeing land and walking on it was occasionally a nice change. Not to mention seeing some other faces besides the ones at the ship every once in a while. Their little group chatted, laughed, everything was… alright. Everything was alright. They were all excited, anticipation lingered in the air, they would leave Singapore behind momentarily in three days and head for the treasure, and that was evident in the air. Hyunjin was excited, too. His eyes glimmered in the flickering candlelight in ways that made Seungmin’s insides warm.

As the night turned around them, they had to leave the tavern and head back to the ship, they were all growing tired and none of them felt like staying in the many inns of Singapore (not the safest for people like them, people who had it all). Singapore was restless as it always was, there were people gathered on the streets in front of the multiple taverns and stalls, occasionally someone recognized them and yelled at them. Hyunjin didn’t like it, his hold of Seungmin got tighter whenever he could feel the looks on him. Seungmin just wished all of them to go away.
“Don’t worry, we’re not far from the pier, it’s alright”, Seungmin mumbled to his dearest, Hyunjin simply nodded, eyes tightly trained on the way they were going.

All went smoothly. Until it didn’t.
“My, my, is it the little siren my eyes are seeing?” Seungmin felt his entire being freeze. He felt Hyunjin’s entire being freeze.
“Didn’t I tell you I’d kill you if I ever saw you again?” The man stepped in front of Seungmin and Hyunjin, breaking apart their little gang, and unsheathed his sword, eyes tightly on Hyunjin. The people around them gasped, some even wooed.
“The quartermaster of Kraken”, Hyunjin whimpered, so quietly only Seungmin heard it. He immediately pulled Hyunjin behind him to safety before drawing out his sword. The quartermaster’s eyes flickered on him.
“Who do you think you are to come between me and this sneaky little witch? He’s the reason my crew is gone!” The man spat out, he was relatively large, taller than Seungmin, and probably perfectly capable of slicing him into two halves with his sword.
“Don’t even think about touching him”, Seungmin hissed through gritted teeth, boiling with anger.
“And who are you to stop me?” The man, clad in all black, scoffed. “Do you think I give a rat’s ass about a tiny little creature like you? You are not standing in between me and this bloody siren.”

The man swung his sword, Seungmin dodged right on time, backed off a few steps, still holding to Hyunjin, he could feel- he could feel the siren’s nails digging into his skin. He brought his sword in front of him to protect them both. Just as the man was about to swing again and attack, a flicker of silver flashed in front of Seungmin’s eyes, and the blades clattered against each other.
“One step closer and you’re dead.” Chan sounded stern. Angry. Seungmin saw from the corner of his eye as Changbin and Felix drew their swords out, too, surrounded the man from behind.
“And who the fuck do you think you are?” The man spat out trying to get his blade out, but it was blocked by Chan’s sword.
“The captain of Calliope. One step closer to them and you’re dead.”

The man recognized the name Calliope and fell silent. Chan had a reputation. They all had a reputation. He clearly pondered his moves for a few seconds, before scoffing and drawing his sword away.
“You… I’ll make sure your life is going to end in the worst way possible”, he hissed at Hyunjin before spitting at their feet and turning his back to them, walking back into the tavern where he had appeared from. Seungmin immediately sheathed his sword again before turning to Hyunjin.

Hyunjin was shaking, his eyes were flickering from red to brown and back to red. Seungmin cradled his face, noticed the crescent markings of nails on his hand to mark the places Hyunjin had gripped him with vigor.
“Hyunjin? Hyunjin. Look at me.”
Hyunjin trembled, his presence somewhere else than in the present.
“Hey, Hyunjin, look at me.” Seungmin muttered, brought the siren closer to him. He watched as Hyunjin tried to… hold on to something? To the present? As he tried to keep the siren in him contained.
“Hyunjin, he’s gone, you’re safe”, Seungmin mumbled again, quietly, caressing Hyunjin’s cheek. Finally, finally Hyunjin’s eyes seemed to shift, still bordering on red as his gaze focused on Seungmin.
“He’s gone, you’re safe”, Seungmin repeated, as calmly as he could. He was boiling with rage inside. How could this person just… ruin their evening like that?! Hyunjin had been doing so well, he had been getting comfortable with being around strangers again, and then that fucking rat had had to come ruin everything?!

Hyunjin nodded, or more like trembled, lower lip quivering just slightly.
“We’re going back to the ship, okay, it’s not a long way from here.”
Another nod.
“Okay, good, I’ll keep you safe, we’ll keep you safe, okay?”
“Okay”, Hyunjin breathed out. Seungmin pressed a small kiss on his forehead before wrapping his arm around his waist in order to hold him as close as possible for the rest of their way. Chan waited for Seungmin to nod at him before turning back to the way they were going. Seungmin noticed it, the others switched places, surrounded Seungmin and Hyunjin from all directions in order to protect the siren.

“I’m sorry”, Hyunjin whispered into the warm night air.

***

Seungmin felt horrible. He had had to leave Hyunjin behind to fill up their storages with Luisa and a few other crewmembers. So much food, water, rum and basic necessities, Seungmin’s legs were already feeling tired as he ran street after street through Singapore, looking for the things they needed. He knew the rest of the crew was no better as Chan had ordered most of them to go fetch everything they needed from gunpowder to some new mattresses as old ones were past their better days.

Hyunjin had been very distraught after last night, it had taken a moment for him to open up to Seungmin again. He had been part of the reason Kraken had sunk in front of Singapore as he had refused to help the captain and sing to the crew sinking their ship, resulting in the deaths of half of the crew. Hyunjin, along with a few others had survived as the ships had been rather close to the shore, and after that he had run away from the crew since some of them were blaming Hyunjin for the whole thing. And Seungmin was furious and he wanted to neck the man who had dared to spit on their feet last night.

Hyunjin had assured Seungmin that he was fine and he’d manage without him for a few hours just fine, but Seungmin still felt guilty. He felt bad for leaving the siren behind even though he damn well knew he was safe and sound in the ship and there were people around him, hell, Jeongin was there with Hyunjin and had sworn to protect the boy from absolutely everything. Yes, Seungmin also knew he was being very overprotective, but he couldn’t help the guilt. He couldn’t help it. He knew it was better for Hyunjin to learn to be by himself and protect himself in case something happened, but Seungmin just… he just didn’t want him to be alone. He didn’t want to leave him.

“Man, he’s fine, nothing’s going to happen”, Changbin nudged Seungmin’s ribs as they passed by an alley, they were headed to get some barrels of water. And by some they meant a lot.
“I know that”, Seungmin mumbled.
“Do you? You know you two can’t live attached by hip for the rest of your lives.”
“Who says we can’t?”
“Seungmin.”
Seungmin sighed, rubbed his temples. The heat of the day felt almost too much, the humidity only worsening his mood. He felt icky.
“I know, okay? I just… I keep worrying for him all the time and I can’t relax and I thought it was going to be fine and then the last night happened and I feel like Hyunjin’s healing has taken at least five steps back during the night and… I, I just-“

Changbin waved at the rest of their crewmembers to continue towards the storages at the edge of the city where they could get all the water barrels.
“Healing takes time, Seungmin, and there are going to be a lot of steps back and worse days until it gets better, I know you have first-hand experience of that.” Changbin was right, Seungmin did. They had stopped in the middle of one of the small alleys going through the edges of the city. There were no souls in sight, Seungmin could hear the jungle from just a few hundred meters away from him. The air seemed to be filled with all kinds of noise, the city blending into nature.

“I know, I know, it’s just… It hurts so much seeing him like that and-“
“Seungmin, you are not the reason for what he’s been through.”
Seungmin hated that Changbin knew him through and through. The quartermaster crossed his arms on his chest.
“He… Seungmin, he has to learn to live on his own. He has to learn to control the siren in him on his own, he has to heal on his own, because no one else can do that for him. The only thing you can do is be there for him, make him see that he’s not alone anymore and that there are people who care for him. That you, we, all of us are ready to protect him, no matter what it takes if that’s what he needs to feel secure.”
Seungmin felt a lump in his throat and nodded. Changbin was right, of course he was right.

“He’s fine, he has Jeongin and I’m pretty certain I’ve seen him talking to Yeonjun occasionally, too, and I feel like he can teach Hyunjin a lot of things about himself since he’s suppressed the siren side of him for so long and doesn’t really know himself. Sure, Yeonjun is only a quarter while Hyunjin is a half, but if someone can understand Hyunjin then it’s him.”
Seungmin nodded again.
“He needs to embrace himself wholly, Seungmin, that’s the only way he’ll learn to control the siren. That’s the way he’s going to heal, he loathes himself, you know, every single one of us can see that. And I don’t blame him, I mean, the assholes had it coming, but since he feels like he’s not in control he’s alert all the time. He needs security. He needs comfort, and you can give that to him, but he needs to learn the rest on his own.”
Seungmin felt like Changbin had taken him by the neck and lifted him against the wall. He felt almost hopeless.
“I know, it’s just… I try to give him that security, but yesterday? He just, the man-“
“You protected him, Seungmin, you stood in between them and would have knocked the man out if you had been able to. Hyunjin has seen it, he knows you’re true to your word and there for him.”
“And what if some day I’m not there for him? What if something happens when I’m gone? What if I’m not enough to keep him safe? I’m not the best swordfighter and I’m even worse at fistfights!”
“You are enough, Seungmin, don’t even try to believe everything else. And you’re not alone, Hyunjin is not alone, you have us. He needs safety in other ways than just protecting him physically. He needs people to believe in him. He needs you to believe in him. He needs you to accept him as he is. He’s not the boy we knew three years ago, and you can’t bring him back because there’s nothing to bring. You need to accept him as he is right now. You need to accept what he has become.”

Seungmin swallowed. Changbin was right, Seungmin had… he had tried to bring back the Hyunjin from three years ago, even if he deep down knew it was impossible. The Hyunjin he knew right now wasn’t him, he was… the current Hyunjin. He was the same person, but a lot had happened that had changed him. There were still shards of him, memories from the past, fragments that had stayed the same, but a lot had changed. Seungmin needed to accept that, he knew it. Before it had been Seungmin trying to help Hyunjin control the siren in him in order to keep it intact, keep it from seeping through the cracks and subdue it somewhere behind the layers, but now… He couldn’t do that anymore. He had to truly, entirely accept Hyunjin as he was, there was no going back, the siren in him was part of him, it had always been a part of him, and it would always be a part of him. Seungmin needed to truly understand that and accept that, that was the only way he could help Hyunjin heal.

“Yeah”, Seungmin nodded. “Yeah, I… I know.”
“Good. Now let’s go so you’ll get back to your loverboy before the sun sets.”

***

After three days of staying put in one place, Calliope weighed anchors and headed for the open sea, leaving Singapore behind. All of the crew had taken a rest, a few crewmembers had been assigned to look around and ask about Flor de la Mar or any other rumors they should be aware of, and apparently there wasn’t anything too important for the crew to know. They had managed to fill up all their storages, they had enough necessities for a month’s sail, after that they would have to return to refill their storages again. Or heist other ships. Or visit other cities, which was always a hassle as they’d have to keep it down and try not to get caught.

Seungmin had thought a lot. He had thought about what Changbin had said, he had thought about it so much that Luisa had had to constantly snap her fingers in front of his eyes in order for Seungmin to focus on the tasks at hand (which were mainly cooking and cleaning). He’d have to accept Hyunjin as a whole. And he had done that. Hyunjin was a half-siren, Seungmin had always known that, and he had accepted the fact.

Or had he? There had always been that… slight discomfort. Seungmin had tried to… downplay the siren part, back then, years ago Hyunjin and Seungmin had agreed to keep it down and try to suppress the siren and that Seungmin would always warn Hyunjin whenever the charms were too visible as it could be dangerous for everyone on board, but… They couldn’t do that anymore. Hyunjin couldn’t do that anymore because if he’d continue suppressing the siren, it would burst out eventually and he could become even more out of control. And Seungmin didn’t want that, that could only… that could only result in death. Hyunjin’s or someone else’s. And Seungmin couldn’t even… he couldn’t even bear to think about that.

Seungmin would have to accept the siren, too. Sure, he had accepted it before, but as something Hyunjin kept away, as somewhat of a dirty secret, but it wasn’t a secret, not anymore, it was prominent, it was part of Hyunjin, and it was a very distinct part. Hyunjin was half of a siren and Seungmin would have to accept that. And in order to accept that, he knew he’d have to learn about it. About the siren. About Hyunjin. About everything that had anything to do with sirens, and not from the stories the sailors told, but from Hyunjin himself. But because Hyunjin didn’t know himself either, they would have to learn together. And then maybe Hyunjin would accept himself, too, and then Seungmin could do that as well. Because right now Seungmin could just see how much Hyunjin hated himself, and Seungmin hated whatever Hyunjin hated because it made him hurt, but the part that made him hurt was part of him that couldn’t be taken away, and Seungmin couldn’t have that. He didn’t want to hate Hyunjin. Not any part of him. So they’d have to learn to embrace it. Hyunjin would have to learn to embrace it.

“What’s wrong?”
Seungmin suddenly snapped back to reality as Hyunjin wrapped his arms around him from behind. He had once again got lost in his thoughts and hadn’t even realized Hyunjin had entered the room.
“Nothing”, Seungmin mumbled.
“Don’t lie to me, you have stood there for the past five minutes just staring at the lantern on the wall”, Hyunjin muttered against the skin of Seungmin’s neck before pressing a kiss on it. Seungmin sighed and leaned into the hug, letting his eyes close for a second.
“I was just in my thoughts. How’s your day been?”
“It’s been fine. Normal. I’m glad we left Singapore.”
“Mmhm.”

Seungmin turned around in Hyunjin’s embrace before pressing a kiss on his lips.
“I need to mop the floors”, he mumbled before letting go of the half-siren. Hyunjin whined but sat on one of the benches to wait for Seungmin.
“Why won’t you just ask Chan to order someone to mop the floors for you?” Hyunjin asked, he was tired of Seungmin always having to stay behind after dinner.
“Because I don’t need any more people in my kitchen”, Seungmin answered before letting out a laugh as he saw the look on Hyunjin’s face. “You’re not part of the any more people.”
Hyunjin’s pout turned into a wide smile. Seungmin noticed that there was a tear on Hyunjin’s breeches.
“What happened to that?” He pointed at the torn part as he bent over to mop the floors from underneath the tables.
“Oh, I had to fetch a few things from the lower storages with Yeonjun and fell on the way.”
“Fell? Aren’t you supposed to be the graceful one?” Seungmin asked, laughter in his voice.
“Oh, come on, the stairs were slippery since they had been just mopped and I slipped. It doesn’t hurt. The… It healed already.”
Seungmin nodded. He stood up, ready with the cleaning for tonight. He leaned against the mop, swept a few sweaty locks of hair away from his forehead.
“You seem to spend a lot of time with Yeonjun lately.”
“You’ve noticed?” Hyunjin quirked his eyebrow at him as he leaned against the table.
“It’s hard not to.”
“Aw, are you jealous?”
Seungmin rolled his eyes before sitting down next to Hyunjin. “No, I’m glad you’ve got some new friends.”
“Yeah, he’s nice, it’s nice to have someone to… talk to, I guess.”

Seungmin knew exactly what Hyunjin meant and nodded.
“Does he… I mean, is the siren in him as strong as it is in you?” He asked, quietly. Hyunjin shook his head:
“He’s, um, he’s learned to control it at a very young age. And the siren song in him isn’t as strong. That’s what he calls it. A siren song. He says it makes it sound less scary.”
Seungmin nodded.
“Have you two been talking about… the siren song in you?”
Hyunjin nodded in turn.  “Not much, but… It’s more of me just asking questions and realizing how easy he has it.” The smile on Hyunjin’s face was a slightly painful one. “He doesn’t have this… bloodlust in him whenever he uses the… siren song. If that’s the way you could put it.”
“And you do?”
“Well, since the siren song only comes out when I’m in danger, it wants to… get rid of the danger. And the only thing it knows is to kill. So yeah. I do.”
Seungmin swallowed before nodding.
“Is it... do you feel it right now? The siren. Not the bloodlust.”

Hyunjin lifted his gaze from the ground to Seungmin.
“Yes”, he breathed out. “It simmers under my skin all the time. I can feel it, it’s like… it’s this massive amount of energy that’s contained in my body and I could… I could call it if I wanted to. But if I would, I, the... the results would be grave.”
Seungmin nodded.
“Have you called to it before? I mean, you said it bursts out to protect you when you’re in danger, but…”
“Yes.” Hyunjin whispered, Seungmin could feel how he tensed up again next to him. “Once.”
“The Dutch ship?”
Hyunjin nodded, looked away, elsewhere, anywhere except Seungmin and Seungmin could see him biting his lip. Seungmin inched a little closer, brought his arm around his little siren.
“And you were conscious then?”
Hyunjin nodded again, just a small, hesitant gesture. “But not… not in control.”

“I… Hyunjin, I’ve been thinking.” Seungmin finally decided to try to open his mouth. Hyunjin turned his attention back to him, slightly curious, slightly afraid of what Seungmin was about to say.
“It’s just, um, I know I don’t really know all that much about this siren stuff nor how you feel or how it does make you feel but… I just, I’ve been thinking that… what if you learned to… control it?”
“What do you mean?” Hyunjin muttered.
“It’s just, well, if it’s possible, we could, you could just… bring it out or, I don’t know, call to it. In somewhere safe. With no other people than just… us. So that there’s no danger. No fear of something happening.”
“I couldn’t, no, Seungmin, it’s dangerous and I could hurt-“
“Yea, I know, but… Hyunjin, I, you, I think it’s just… it might help. It could make the outbursts less destructive. It could… ease your pain if you learned how to control it, even in dangerous situations that might threaten your life.”

Hyunjin fell silent, simply stared at Seungmin and Seungmin felt like he had said something incredibly wrong.
“It’s dangerous”, the boy finally breathed out.
“You’ve only called to it when you have been in danger or wanted revenge, right? What if it’s just you and me. What if the situation is completely different and there’s no danger, just us?”
“No, Seungmin, I could hurt you”, Hyunjin shook his head.
“No, you wouldn’t. You didn’t hurt me when we met.” There was still a tiny scar underneath Seungmin’s eye, barely visible as it had faded.
“Yes, I did. And I tried to. I would have if Felix hadn’t stopped me.” The memory clearly hurt Hyunjin.
“It was a tiny scratch and it’s healed. And I’m going to be the one stopping you if things go south. Just… Hyunjin, I don’t believe you’d hurt me. Not if you’re not in danger.”
“What if the siren song deems the situation as dangerous? What then?”
“Then we’ll wait for it to pass, and I’ll hold you until it does.”
Hyunjin didn’t say anything, just swallowed and looked down again. He was thinking about it, Seungmin knew that.

“We don’t have to do it now, just… whenever you feel like you’d be ready to try it out. It would just, I think it would be easier for you to learn to control it and be in control whenever the siren is singing.”
Something seemed to shift in Hyunjin’s being. He blinked and looked up suddenly.
“Singing”, he breathed out. “Seungmin, I… I just realized, when the explosion happened I… I sang to charm the sailors to come and get me the day after. And back then when that pirate captain forced me to do that. Back then I… I called to the siren. And I was in control. Aware of it, until when… later something dangerous happened and it sort of just… I don’t know, I tipped over the edge or something.”
“See? You’ve already done it!” Seungmin felt a tinge of joy in his chest. “You can do it, I know it. We just need to… get the whole thing under control.”
“But we can’t do it alone. Not just… not just the two of us. If something happens, I…”
“Let’s bring Chan along, alright? And Yeonjun, he might know how the… whole thing works. Or I don’t know. We’ll bring anyone you want.”
Hyunjin nodded. “I want Jeongin. To be there. And Felix since he’s stopped me twice before.”
Seungmin nodded. Then he pressed a peck on Hyunjin’s cheek, brought him a bit closer.
“Anyone you want. And whenever you feel like you’re ready. Alright?”
“Alright.”

***

Hyunjin looked absolutely terrified. Or not absolutely terrified, more of… simply scared. Stressed. Anxious.
“We don’t have to do this if you don’t want to”, Seungmin mumbled at him. They were standing in the middle of the kitchen, Yeonjun, Felix, Jeongin and Chan were sitting around a table close by. They kept quiet as Seungmin held Hyunjin’s hands, reassuring him that everything was going to be fine. A few days had passed and they were nearing the islands they were headed to, earlier the day Hyunjin had tugged the hem of Seungmin’s shirt as he had been cleaning and told him he was ready. After that Seungmin had rushed to the four of their friends (or three, Seungmin wouldn’t consider Yeonjun as his friend just yet, but he was Hyunjin’s friend now, so…) and got them all gathered in the kitchen after dinner. Changbin was steering the ship, Jisung had a look-out shift until sundown and Minho… well, probably had some witchy business to do, he had been acting a bit distant lately.

“I want to. I have to”, Hyunjin mumbled back.
“You don’t have to do anything. Don’t feel pressured to do this, Hyunjin.”
“No, I want to… I want to learn to control it. I want to be safe for you.”
Seungmin swallowed, almost ready to protest but the look in Hyunjin’s eyes was so serious he knew it would fall to deaf ears, so he decided to just nod.
“Okay, I’m ready”, Hyunjin breathed out and from the corner of his eye, Seungmin could see the others tensing up. Yeonjun leaned forward, Felix quietly switched places with Jeongin in order to lunge for Hyunjin if anything were to happen.
“Okay. Good. You don’t have to do it for a long time, just, do whatever feels comfortable. You don’t have to sing. You don’t have to say anything”, Seungmin reminded his dearest once more.

Hyunjin nodded. He let go of Seungmin’s hands, took a small step back, so did Seungmin. Just in case. Just in case the siren would deem Seungmin a danger.
“Okay”, Hyunjin whispered and closed his eyes. Seungmin could feel the knot in his guts tightening slightly with anxiety. He just hoped everything would go well. He just hoped this would be a step forward instead of backwards.

They all could visibly see the change in Hyunjin, even in the kitchen’s flickering lantern light. His whole posture seemed to sharpen, the light he seemed to emit at all times getting much stronger. Seungmin had nearly forgot about it since they were all so used to it – the charms were seeping through Hyunjin at all times. He had always been alluring to an extent that was non-human, but Seungmin was used to it and the charms didn’t really affect him at all anymore. Now they did. Oh, they did. He could feel them. The last time he had felt them this intensely was when he had met Hyunjin for the first time ever, how the room suddenly had felt warmer, how he suddenly had felt like he was all safe and comfortable and nothing was wrong in the world. Now he felt it again. He knew the others felt it, too. The siren charms. They could all feel them.

And then Hyunjin opened his eyes, and all that comfort seemed to vanish as a hint of terror gripped Seungmin. It was fake, he had to tell himself, it was part of the charms, lure in, then kill, that was the deal with sirens, Hyunjin wasn’t a threat, he wasn’t terrifying and Seungmin wasn’t scared of him. From the corner of his eye Seungmin could see Chan moving, just slightly, and Hyunjin’s head snapped immediately towards his direction to examine the threat.

And then back to Seungmin. Seungmin didn’t move, he didn’t budge, just kept staring into those blood-red eyes. Hyunjin was shaking, just slightly trembling, Seungmin could see how his fingers kept crooking, as if getting ready to claw his way out of danger. He was going through an inner battle, wasn’t he? The siren in him was telling him to kill, and Hyunjin was trying to keep the song at bay. Seungmin swallowed, before he whispered:
“Hyunjin?”

The half-siren’s pupils blew wide, black mixed with the red. He took a step forwards, Seungmin stood his ground, he could feel the tension in the air, he could feel the charms luring him in and the terror wrapping around him, and the adrenaline in his veins felt nearly addicting with all of the sensations. Hyunjin took in a shaky breath, his trembling getting stronger as he raised his other hand. Seungmin felt Hyunjin’s fingers brush against the skin of his cheek, he could feel the claws scraping just ever so slightly, but he couldn’t tear his eyes away from Hyunjin’s. He was deciding whether to kill Seungmin now or not. And by the feather-like touch on Seungmin’s cheek he knew he’d live to see another day.

Then Hyunjin suddenly, so fast no one had really time to react, pulled Seungmin into his embrace. Seungmin could feel the claws digging into his back, but never too hard, never breaking the skin through Seungmin’s shirt. He felt Hyunjin bury his head on his shoulder, take a deep breath and then exhale, still shaking. Slowly, slowly he wrapped his arms around Hyunjin, so slowly the half-siren wouldn’t see him as a threat. He let the boy nose against his neck, tug his shirt as if deciding whether he was safe or not. Seungmin tightened his hold of Hyunjin, just a little, just a smidgen, quickly eyed the others who seemed to be just as tense as Seungmin felt, Felix had nearly stood up from his chair and glanced at Seungmin with a quirked eyebrow, to which Seungmin answered with the tiniest shake of his head. He was safe. He could feel that. Hyunjin wouldn’t try to rip him to pieces unless he’d give him a reason to do so. And Seungmin would never do that.

Hyunjin breathed in, he breathed out, Seungmin could feel how the tension in him faded away little by little, he could feel how the room around them suddenly turned darker, how the claws digging to his back started to let go and he suddenly felt empty, like all the light from his life had been taken away. Hyunjin drew back, still shaking, and Seungmin watched the red in his eyes dissolved into that gentle, warm brown Seungmin so much loved.
“Hey”, Seungmin breathed out, still holding Hyunjin by his shoulders. Hyunjin was still shaking a little, but clearly coming back to himself as he glanced around, blinked a few times.
“Hey”, he mumbled before taking a step back. Seungmin let go of him as the half-siren clearly needed a moment to collect himself.

“Whew, that was intense!” Yeonjun commented from the side as he stood up, the rest following him.
“Are you sure you’re only half of a siren? Because you sure as hell are as alluring as a full siren.” Yeonjun patted Hyunjin’s back, and perhaps for a brief moment something ugly stirred inside Seungmin’s guts. Okay, yes, maybe Hyunjin had been right and maybe Seungmin was just a tiny bit jealous (and beneath that jealousy was fear of Hyunjin finding Yeonjun a lot nicer and more attractive and all that over Seungmin and Seungmin shouldn’t be thinking about this, not now, definitely not now).
“Are you alright?” Chan asked as he squeezed Hyunjin’s shoulder. Hyunjin simply nodded.
“How did it feel?” Jeongin and Felix were now beside them, too.

“It… It’s just… It’s overwhelming”, Hyunjin mumbled. “Everything’s so sharp and overpowering and… I can just… feel everyone and even those outside of this room and…” Hyunjin glanced at Seungmin, “and… for a second it felt too overpowering but… I don’t know, then I, the siren song understood that there’s no danger, so it just turned to this… oversensitivity of everything.”
“But it didn’t feel too bad?” The captain asked, a rather concerned frown on his face. Hyunjin shook his head.
“It… no. It didn’t feel bad, just overwhelming.”
“You can get used to overwhelming and then it will feel less overwhelming”, Yeonjun said, this time he slung his arm around the captain’s shoulders. Hyunjin just nodded.
“How do you feel now?” Jeongin asked.
“Um… I feel… fine. Tired, I guess.”
“That’s good. I think we should let you rest. And maybe we’ll have to… start doing this daily. Or something. As long as you’re comfortable with it”, the half-mermaid said, smiling. He was clearly happy about Hyunjin’s process, and so was Seungmin. Hyunjin nodded, and sooner than Seungmin had time to gather his thoughts, the others had left the two of them in the kitchen alone. And then he had his arms full of Hyunjin again.

“I had to tell myself that you’re not a threat. I had to tell myself that I can’t kill you”, he whispered against Seungmin’s shoulder, gripping him hard.
“Did it work?”
“You’re not dead, are you?”
Seungmin let out a light laugh: “I suppose I am not. How did you convince yourself?”
“You smelled familiar. And safe.”
The aforementioned jealousy disappeared from within Seungmin in seconds after Hyunjin’s words.
“And you felt safe. And… I don’t know. The siren seems to like you. A lot. Because I like you, probably. And I’m not sure if the siren wants to rip you into pieces or what but the feeling I get is really overwhelming.”
“Maybe we’ll have to try again without me?”
“No!” Hyunjin protested, face still pressed against Seungmin’s shoulder. “Absolutely not.”
“Okay, okay, we won’t!” Seungmin smiled against Hyunjin’s shoulder as he tightened his hold of him a little. They sure did a lot of hugging these days.
“But I do want to try again. The siren just… I don’t know. It’s overwhelming. But it feels so… I don’t know how to say it. It feels like me? It feels like… I’m getting to know a part of me that’s been asleep for a long time.”
“Probably because that’s exactly what you’re doing.”

***

“It’s that one! It has to be!” Jisung yelled from the top of his lungs as he flung himself down the shrouds, pointing at the island ahead of them. They had just passed by the three islands underneath the stars (as the crew called them) that pointed to the fourth island, and now the fourth island was right in front of them, waiting for the strangers to explore it. The seas they were currently tacking through were dangerous, shallow and full of spiky rocks pointing up and poking through the waves. That was why Chan was on the helm, and Jeongin was next to him, eyes closed, pointing at the direction Chan should sail next in order to not get them shipwrecked. Seungmin was standing close to the taffrail with Minho and Felix who were examining the island ahead of them with great interest. He could see shipwrecks below them as they sailed forwards and shuddered, he hoped their ship wouldn’t end up like those unfortunate stories.

“There’s something odd about this…” Minho mumbled, Seungmin quirked his eyebrow at him. Last night they had all sat once again in Chan’s cabin, wondering what was ahead of them.
“How so?” Seungmin asked. If Minho had a bad feeling about this, then so did Seungmin.
“It’s too easy. You can even see the cave front from here.”
Seungmin turned to look at the island, nearing them second by second, and Minho was right – the island was small. And it was more of just a straight up mountain rising from the sea than an island. Or well, there were shores around it, and there was a bit of a jungle and most of the hill, mountain, whatever was covered by it, but otherwise it was just a mountain. And there was a black hole in the middle of it. Literally.
“I wonder if there’s someone living on the island”, Felix mumbled, Minho shook his head:
“I don’t think so. It’s too small for a community.”

“There’s a lot of life in these seas, though”, the witch added. They could all see the sharks circling around the shipwrecks, the fish schooling around them, the bright corals down at the bottom of the seas and gathered on the rocks. The waters were very clear, at times it seemed like they were sailing through air instead of the sea.
“Anything we should fear?” Felix asked before Seungmin got the chance. Minho shook his head again:
“I don’t think so.”

The day was bright, nearing afternoon, the crew had had lunch perhaps an hour or two ago. Seungmin and Luisa had just finished cleaning the kitchen and joined the rest of the crew as they were waiting to reach their target. Seungmin could feel it, the anticipation, the crew was excited to find out what was on that little island, what was waiting for them and about to guide them further. Seungmin was excited, sure, but mostly he was nervous. Frankly, he was always nervous these days. Or well, he had always been nervous. He was the nervous type. He was always nervous for everything and life had taught him a few lessons and now he was always scared something bad was going to happen. And this time was no different, and it was exhausting, but that’s who he was. There wasn’t much to do about it.

“I’m so excited!” Hyunjin almost shrieked as he clung to Seungmin and Felix, clearly bursting of joy. Seungmin hoped some of his excitement would rub on him, too. Changbin was talking to Chan next to the helm as the captain still focused on getting them closer to the island safely. They all knew they wouldn’t be able to get the ship all that close and would have to row the last few hundred meters to the island.

And that few hundred meters had arrived, as Chan yelled “Drop the anchors! Take the rest of the sails down!” and Hyunjin once again left Seungmin’s side to climb up the mast to untie the shrouds holding the last sails. Seungmin could hear the steely clank of the anchor as it was dropped down in the sea, followed by a splash, and after a few moments the movement of the ship stopped.
“We’ll take the boats to the shore! Only a handful of us will go to the shore, the rest of you will look after the ship! If we’re not here by sunrise tomorrow morning, we have fallen behind and you may proceed as you like.”

Seungmin didn’t like that. It was just basic etiquette, yes, those who fell behind were left behind and that was the law of the sea because if they wouldn’t return from the island, then there would be something capable of killing them and it wouldn’t be smart for the rest of the crew to follow them. But he still didn’t like it. No one would be left behind, because there wouldn’t be anything to make them fall behind, Seungmin hoped that, truly hoped that.

The crew lowered a few rowing boats down on the waves. They had decided last night who would go to the shore and who wouldn’t, and had all agreed that the original eight of them would never be separated again, so all of them would go to the shore. It was also the smartest decision as they knew the maps best and they had Jeongin and Minho, and Felix as their little swordsman. Seungmin was more of just there as a support, he knew it, but he would have come along anyway since Hyunjin was definitely going to the shore. So that was why Seungmin ended up with Changbin, Felix and Hyunjin on his boat, him being the one rowing it. Chan and a few other crewmembers were on the second boat, on the third were Jeongin, Minho, Jisung and Rubye. Thirteen people were enough, they had decided, the crew could work just fine if they wouldn’t return from their little trip.

Rowing was exhausting, Seungmin hated it, but he had insisted on trying to be at least somehow useful. He could feel the sweat running down his back as he rowed next to Minho (who had surprisingly abandoned his black robes and looked more of a casual pirate now, except with the white crosses across his features). The waves luckily sped their travel a little, and it didn’t take them all that much time to finally reach the shores. Changbin, thank gods, took the initiative and jumped off the boat so Seungmin wouldn’t have to and dragged them to the shore, getting his boots wet in the process.

They had finally reached the fourth island under the stars. They all rose from the wooden little boat, Seungmin stretched his back before he helped to get their captain’s little boat ashore. And then he turned to look around the little island.

The shores weren’t big, just a sliver of sand in between the sea and the jungle. Seungmin could hear everything, mostly birds singing and shrieking, perhaps some monkeys and other animals. There were a lot of large rocks on the shore, the waves crashed against them and threw sea foam all over the shore. Some driftwood had washed on the white sand as well. The jungle started quickly rising along the mountain as the mountain rose, reached for the sky, and roughly in the middle of that mountain was the opening to the cave. A cold and a dark place. A cave. This had to be it. The access to Flor de la Mar’s treasure. They were one step closer to it, as surprising as it seemed.

“There it is! Let’s go!” Jisung waved towards the entrance, Minho reached to stop him. Chan looked at the witch, slightly curious. Viola had come along, Seungmin had seen her fly into the forest, and Minho was waiting for her to return. Which, after a while, she did, and Minho let go of Jisung and nodded. It was safe to go.

Hyunjin slipped his hand into Seungmin’s as they started wading through the wet sand towards the jungle. Seungmin wasn’t sure if it was to assure him or Hyunjin himself, but he was grateful for it, nevertheless. He got a little, shy smile from the half-siren, and Seungmin knew it was more of a question, is this alright, are you comfortable with this? And Seungmin nodded, of course he did. Even if they did hold hands in front of the others, sometimes even kissed, it was still… a bit… awkward. Seungmin didn’t know what it was, his own shyness, his own insecurities or what, but displaying affection in front of other people… it was hard for him. Had always been. Was sometimes even in private, if he started to overthink it. It was annoying, he hated it, he knew Hyunjin deserved a lot more, probably wanted a lot more, too, and Seungmin was trying to get over himself, he was, but still… It was hard. Everything was hard. As was saying the magical three words that probably meant the entire world to Hyunjin. Sure, he had said that he ‘would love’ Hyunjin, but that was… it was different. There was the ‘would’. Seungmin would have to get rid of the ‘would’.

The jungle engulfed them, greeted them with its loud silence. Changbin and Jisung went first as they led them through the paths used by animals that occasionally disappeared into the greenery. Chan kept watch over them from behind, Seungmin and Hyunjin were in the middle, Felix right behind them. It was sort of a silent agreement, Felix and Seungmin both were keeping close to Hyunjin in case of any dangers lurking in the jungle. Seungmin held Hyunjin’s hand tightly, pushed any branches away from their way, stumbled on roots so Hyunjin didn’t have to. The jungle around them was alive, a few snakes were wrapped up in the trees, they saw a family of some sort of mouse-like animals running over the track, and so many colorful birds Seungmin lost count of them. The animals were curious, but not scared of them. And perhaps that freaked Seungmin out a little bit.

Everything was so overwhelmingly colorful. Green, so rich it almost made Seungmin’s eyes hurt. The air was humid but fresh, occasionally Seungmin could feel a few drops of dew drop on his shoulders, it had clearly been raining a lot lately as the ground they walked on was soft, muddy at times. Felix kept pointing at absolutely everything, Hyunjin following after him, Jisung’s voice could be heard from the front easily as he was so excited and always talked loudly when he was excited. The atmosphere was cheery. Not scared, there wasn’t anything to fear.

Soon the ground started to lead them up. They had to push themselves through thick layers of bushes, occasionally supporting themselves on the trees and roots as the mountain side got too steep too quickly. The light chatter turned to puffs of air and wheezes and cursing and from in between the thick leaves Seungmin could see the front of the cave somewhere ahead of them and it seemed to be way too far,

until it didn’t, and Seungmin hauled himself and Hyunjin over the ledge, almost gasping for air as the others helped the rest of them up. Hyunjin was just fine, he looked like the climb up the mountain hadn’t tired him at all, so did Minho, and Seungmin was the complete opposite of them, he had to lean on his knees to support himself in order to not fall face-first on the hard ground from exhaustion. Hyunjin handed him a flask which Seungmin gratefully accepted before drinking from it. Dear lord, did water taste good right now.

Finally, all thirteen of them had reached the ledge and were getting themselves together from the climb up. Jisung had the maps and the scroll they had got from the shopkeeper in Tortuga spread in front of the cave entrance, most of them were already trying to peer into the darkness. The cave sloped downwards, Seungmin could see that much, otherwise it was just pitch black in there. And that didn’t seem all too good to him.

“Okay, alright, what do we have so far? There’s the entrance and the scroll says no human can enter the cave”, Chan said as he hunched over Jisung’s shoulder to take a look at the scroll, then at the cave.
“Maybe it’s just to scare us and keep people out”, Changbin muttered. Felix took a few steps towards the entrance, but Minho quickly grabbed the back of his shirt, stopped him.
“Don’t. Look”, the witch whispered as he created a little ball of light in his hands and threw it into the cave.

Seungmin felt himself freezing on the spot, cold chills running down his back. Human remains. Human bodies, at different stages of rot, but clearly old already. Already skeletal most of them. All of them were laying a few meters away from the entrance at the border the daylight didn’t reach, but Minho’s witchlight did.
“Um, I think the scroll is telling the truth”, Jisung mumbled as the first one to break the silence.

Minho threw another little ball of light, this time towards the ground. It hit something, and suddenly a line of green fire lit up on the ground, going from side to side of the entrance.
“It’s a protective array. It kills whoever crosses it, burns them to death. The captain was either a witch, or working with one”, Minho said, the fire died down as he spoke.
“So, that’s it? Can you destroy it?” Changbin asked Minho. Minho shook his head:
“Only those who have created it can destroy it. Or the witch who had created this would have to die, that would kill the array, too. Or we’d need a stronger witch than I am.”
“Oh. So the captain isn’t the witch, as he’s known to be dead?” Felix wondered out loud.
“Do we know he’s dead?” Hyunjin asked.
“Not for sure. Maybe they’re immortal or some shit”, Chan muttered in turn.
“Amazing. Let’s go.”
“Are you out of your damn mind?” Minho hissed as he grabbed Jisung’s arm in order to stop the other pirate from crossing the line.

“Have all of those been searching for the treasure, too?” One of the crewmembers accompanying them, Marva, asked as she crossed her arms.
“Maybe. Or maybe not, there have been a lot of shipwrecks on the way and popular trade routes are close, maybe they have just been unfortunate to try a shortcut and sink and tried to look for shelter”, Chan said, examining the array a little closer as he bent over to look at it. It had burned a black line on the ground as Minho had set it on fire.
“No human can enter…” Jeongin mumbled, he had taken the scroll and was reading through it for the millionth time.
“Is this it? We sailed all the way here and now we can’t get to the map?” Jisung huffed, he sounded very disappointed.
“No human can enter…” Seungmin heard Hyunjin mumble next to him, he was gazing inside to the darkness. Then he suddenly let go of Seungmin’s hand:
“But I am no human.”

Before Seungmin had time to reach out for him and stop him, Hyunjin stepped over the array. Seungmin’s entire being froze, he could feel the terror in his veins as he watched Hyunjin step over the burnt line, he heard the gasps around him, and then the moment seemed to stop. Hyunjin turned around to look at them,

and nothing happened. He didn’t burst into flames. He took a few steps in, Minho’s witchlight dancing around him as he bent over to take a look at one of the skeletons closest to the entrance. Nothing. He didn’t burst into flames.
“Right. I’m not human either”, Minho mumbled as he stepped over the line, too. Jeongin shrugged as he took the scroll and did the same. And there they stood, on the other side of the line as the three non-humans stared ahead into the darkness, and on the other side stood the rest of them. Seungmin wanted to follow, he really did, but before he had time even to take one step closer, he felt Changbin grasp his arm firmly.
“Don’t even think about it, we don’t need you bursting into flames here right now.”

Seungmin glanced at Minho and understood this was what he had felt. This was what he had meant by odd. The captain wasn’t fully human, the cave couldn’t be accessed by a human, so they would have to split up. And Seungmin hated splitting up more than anything else.
“We’ll go. We’ll try to get back before sunset. I’ll leave Viola with you.” With Jisung, Seungmin knew Minho meant that. They had no other choice but to agree. Jeongin had his little backpack full of food and water and a few empty scrolls if they would have to draw a map, Minho was a witch and Hyunjin was smart, and they would do just fine. They would do just fine, Seungmin had to tell that to himself as Hyunjin looked him in the eyes and nodded, as if to encourage the both of them. He wanted to go. He wanted to go see what was in the cave, and Seungmin would have to let him go.

So they left. Turned their backs to the rest of the crew as they started walking further into the cave, descending into the darkness with Minho’s witchlight leading their way. And Seungmin watched, he watched after them until the last trace of that light faded out, until even the faintest echo of a whisper died out, and nothing but darkness could once again be seen from the entrance.

***

Seungmin was restless. He couldn’t sit down. He couldn’t do anything. Hours had passed, the ten people had made the ledge they were standing on comfortable, some had left to explore the nearby areas, Jisung among them with Viola. Seungmin was pacing around, ever so often stopping to look inside the cave to see the faintest trace of light to sign the return of the three or to listen to anything, even cries of terror, but nothing. There was nothing, no movement, absolutely nothing. Seungmin felt bad, he felt nervous, he felt anxious, one by one his companions tried to reassure him that their friends were fine, but none of them succeeded. And it wasn’t their fault. Seungmin was just restless. He was always restless.

The sky above them kept turning, the sun moved behind the mountain, throwing a gentle shadow over them to shield them from the heat of the late afternoon. Changbin was sitting on the side of the entrance, Felix’s head on his lap as the boy had fallen asleep after all the climbing. Changbin was examining a few of the maps they had brought with them. Chan sat at the edge of the ledge, chatting with a few other crewmembers.
“Seungmin, you have been pacing around the cliff for so long it probably has your footprints engraved to it by now”, Changbin softly muttered from the side in order to not wake Felix up. Seungmin just glared at him, he had tried sitting down and that had only made his nerves worse.

And time continued passing, as it always did. Chan had to shove a piece of bread into Seungmin’s hands along with the water flask in order to get him to eat something. Seungmin couldn’t calm down, he just couldn’t, Hyunjin was in that cave and he could have been already dead and Seungmin had no way of knowing!

Or maybe he did, since Viola was still with them and acting completely normal as Jisung had returned with the two other crewmembers from their little exploration. But still! Hyunjin was in there and Seungmin wasn’t!

And he couldn’t get the words out of his head! ‘But I am no human’. It had felt like… some sort of declaration. Like it held more meaning to it than just that, it held more meaning than just Hyunjin being able to cross the line. It felt like… Hyunjin had somehow started to accept the siren song in him with that declaration. I am no human. Because I am half a siren, and therefore only half a human. Half a blood-thirsty killer when threatened. But weren’t they all? Weren’t humans that, too? They were. But Hyunjin was only a half human, and he had started to accept that fact, and Seungmin was proud of it, but at the same time a little scared, what if he’d see himself as one of the killers and only see the bad sides, what if he’d start distancing himself from Seungmin again, what if-

“We found it!” The delighted, clear yell echoed from the cave, and soon Seungmin could hear steps, not one, not two, but those of three people. He felt relief engulf him as the witchlight appeared first, followed by the three familiar figures, Jeongin bursting out first with all of the scrolls.
“There were so many diamonds! They created the entire sky, and we drew the map from them! It was so beautiful, I wish you all could have seen it!”

But Seungmin wasn’t listening to Jeongin, oh no, the second Hyunjin stepped over the line he rushed to him and engulfed him into a hug. He felt Hyunjin’s arms wrap around him and had to do everything in his willpower to keep his composure and not cry. He had been so worried, he had been so incredibly worried and now Hyunjin was here again, in one piece, in alright shape, nothing had happened, he was fine. He was fine, Seungmin had to tell that to himself as he squeezed Hyunjin in his arms, letting his scent fill his senses for a moment before letting go.
“I was worried”, he mumbled close to Hyunjin’s ear.
“I can tell”, Hyunjin let out a laugh before pressing a small peck on Seungmin’s cheek. “Sorry, I should have asked, but I know you would have done everything in your power in order to stop me.”

Hyunjin was correct, and before Seungmin had time to say anything, the half-siren kissed the pout away from his face. Seungmin could feel his face heating up and just hoped the rest of their friends were too engrossed with the maps Jeongin had brought with them to not mind him and Hyunjin. Why was he so shy? As if Felix and Changbin didn’t have tongues down each other’s throats with every occasion they got, even when other people were present! As if anyone would mind them! As if they didn’t usually hold hands and give little pecks to each other on the decks of Calliope!

“You’re blushing”, Hyunjin muttered under his breath as he turned to the rest of their friends. Seungmin just scoffed and looked down, tried to hide his blush as Hyunjin’s hand found its way in his. Too much. And not enough. Hyunjin was fine, he was just fine, he did well on his own and Seungmin had been worrying too much for absolutely no reason, he knew that. And Hyunjin wasn’t going anywhere. He wasn’t distancing himself. And Seungmin would have to start believing that right now so that he would be able to trust Hyunjin fully.

Chan showed the map to all of them around their little circle of people, it had clearly been drawn by Jeongin, Seungmin could tell that by the delicate strokes.
“We got it! Now let’s go, the others are waiting for us in the ship!”

Seungmin sighed. More climbing and more rowing. Again.

***

They had a heading. The map led them to an unmarked island just along the trade routes further in the seas, and that was their target. There would be the lost treasure of Flor de la Mar, most likely hidden in another cave underground, if Minho had deciphered the codes left by the other witch correctly. The treasure wasn’t meant to be found by regular sailors, that was evident by now. In order to find it you had to be non-human. Or work together with one.

The crew was excited, Seungmin wasn’t, it was all the same. They had been sailing for two days now and still had a week ahead of them. The three of their friends had told them what had happened in the cave and what they had found. The captain had apparently been a half-siren, and Hyunjin had had to reach for his own siren song to break a seal to get into the last part of the cave. And he had done it. And it had been fine. Hyunjin was fine. Apparently the situation had been well under control, Jeongin had told that to him afterwards, Hyunjin had just broken the seal, then taken a few deep breaths before getting back to his normal self, and then they had got to the cave filled with diamonds that casted an entire night sky over them. And then they had drawn the map from them. The diamond indicating the spot of the treasure had apparently been surrounded with flowers that seemed to illuminate light. Flor de la Mar. Flower of the sea. How fitting.

And then they had got back, and everything had been fine. Seungmin had worried for nothing. Of course he had. Now two days had passed with smooth sailing, the few next wouldn’t be as smooth as Jeongin had told them stormier seas were closing and even right now Seungmin could hear the slight rain thrumming against the decks outside as he was washing the last pots for the night. Hyunjin had already gone to their little cabin, Luisa had left as Seungmin had told her he could clean the rest on his own and now Seungmin was alone in the dim candlelight. Soon he, too, was ready and blew the last lanterns off before locking the kitchen door from the inside. To keep the hungry ones out for the night.

Seungmin was tired, he was ready to wrap himself up in between the covers next to Hyunjin and maybe kiss him a little bit before falling asleep and maybe he’d finally gather the courage to tell him that he loved him very much because something in him had shifted after Hyunjin had taken the leap of faith and headed for the darkness inside of the cave and Seungmin just felt like he had to tell him. The sooner, the better.

But that thought vanished from his head the second he knocked the door to his and Hyunjin’s cabin and opened it, because Hyunjin lunged up from the bed and hissed at him, eyes red and expression bordering on feral. Seungmin stopped in his tracks, hand still on the doorknob. The siren was out.

He watched as Hyunjin examined him from head to toe, before seemingly relaxing, just a little bit. The look of fear mixed with anger turned to something else, something Seungmin couldn’t really describe. Attentive. Curious, yet a little fearful. Seungmin slowly, very slowly closed the door behind him, stood still, not facing Hyunjin completely as that might seem a little too intimidating for him.

“Hey”, Seungmin whispered softly. Hyunjin tilted his head a little, as if to hear a bit better. He was still trembling, breathing hard, maybe from trying to keep himself under control. He took a small step towards Seungmin, Seungmin didn’t back away. He tried making himself seem as unthreatening as possible by letting his gaze wander around the room instead of being nailed right in Hyunjin’s eyes. It was hard. The red in them was alluring. The whole boy was alluring, Seungmin could feel it.

Hyunjin took another step closer, and Seungmin wasn’t entirely sure what got into him, but he reached for Hyunjin. He raised his hand, slowly, very slowly to lightly touch Hyunjin’s arm. And the half-siren didn’t dodge.
“Seungmin…” Hyunjin breathed out, and Seungmin could feel his knees buckling underneath him. He could feel how Hyunjin’s voice took control, how it messed with his head, how it clouded his vision and filled it with sheer pleasure. So this was how it felt to be bewitched by a siren.
“Hyunjin”, Seungmin mumbled, and the next thing he knew was that his back was pressed against the door and Hyunjin had his arms around him, he was breathing down his neck, burying his head in his shoulder. They were bordering on dangerous, Seungmin knew it, this was dangerous and Hyunjin was dangerous and he could care less right now and he knew it was the spell he had been pulled under speaking.

“Seungmin”, Seungmin heard another whisper, the logic in his brain was screaming at him to stop, but instead he wrapped his arms around the siren, pulling him closer.
“Yeah?” he managed to mumble. He felt breathless. He knew this was dangerous. The claws were again digging to his back, but never breaking the skin. Hyunjin wasn’t here to shred him to pieces.
“I want… you…”, the half-siren mumbled and Seungmin could feel his entire being turning to molten lava under his touch. The touch felt almost feverish, it burned against Seungmin’s skin and Seungmin knew that it wasn’t entirely the siren charm wrapping him into its embrace.

“I know, I know, but we-“ Seungmin didn’t have the chance to finish the sentence before Hyunjin’s mouth was on his, all teeth and tongue more than just kissing. Seungmin had to keep himself in control, he couldn’t give in, not right now, they couldn’t afford that, Hyunjin wasn’t in complete control of himself yet. He slowly let go of Hyunjin with his other arm, only to hold his cheek with his hand as the boy kissed the breath out of him.
“Hyunjin”, he managed to mumble in between the kisses. “We can’t, not yet”, he wheezed out. Something in Hyunjin seemed to settle, something fell in place, or rather, he gained control of himself again. Seungmin could see the struggle, he could feel it as Hyunjin pressed his forehead against Seungmin’s, eyes still closed tightly. He shuddered, breathed hard. Seungmin could feel how the hold around him tightened a little before it loosened. He could feel how the spell he had been under started to let go, how for a moment he felt so incredibly empty. Hyunjin opened his eyes and Seungmin could see how the red seeped out of them. The half-siren was still trembling, almost slumped into Seungmin’s embrace.

“S-sorry, I, I thought you wouldn’t be coming in yet, I-“
“Shh, it’s alright, Hyunjin.” Seungmin tightened his hold a little of the boy. Hyunjin pressed his head against Seungmin’s shoulder again, this time not wanting to devour him alive.
“N-no, I-“
“At least the siren song clearly doesn’t want to kill me anymore.”
Hyunjin let out a laugh that sounded more like a sob: “No, it doesn’t.” He was still a little breathless, still quite shaken, and to be fair, so was Seungmin.
“Maybe tell me next time before you try calling to it again?”
“Yeah, yeah, I will, sorry… It’s just… I don’t know, it’s getting easier. And it’s nice. The feeling. It’s not so overwhelming anymore. Except when you came in, then it was… really overwhelming. It’s very attached to you. I am, I mean. The siren in me. It doesn’t… it doesn’t want to kill you. I don’t want to kill you. The opposite, actually”, Hyunjin mumbled, head still on Seungmin’s shoulder as if too shy to look him in the eyes. And perhaps Seungmin was glad of that, because his face was probably as red as a tomato.
“Well, that’s great”, he muttered under his breath.
“Can we sleep now? It’s, the siren thing, it’s really exhausting.” Hyunjin’s voice was tiny, he finally lifted his head from Seungmin’s shoulder and took a step back.
“Yeah, yes, we can. I’m really tired, too.” And that was a lie, but Hyunjin didn’t need to know that.

***

The prior night didn’t repeat itself during the upcoming days, of which Seungmin was a tiny bit thankful since he wasn’t sure if his brain was capable of handling another whirlwind called Hyunjin and his little siren song. They did try out the siren thing, however, just with the others present and this time Seungmin stood on the side and Hyunjin was on his own. He did well and Seungmin was incredibly proud of that, he didn’t seem too alarmed by anything, just held on to the siren song a little while and then let go of it. He didn’t say anything, just looked around the kitchen with those red eyes of his, took a few, slightly trembling steps and then it was over. Next time they’d try somehow conversing, even if that would require for the others to stick beeswax into their ears in order to block the siren song. Which meant that everyone else was going to stick beeswax into their ears except Seungmin, because someone unthreatening to Hyunjin would have to be able to actually talk to him.

That would go so well. Hah. Dear lord, Seungmin hoped he wouldn’t be as cloud-minded as the last time during it, that would be slightly embarrassing.

Seungmin was just about to step out of the kitchen, Luisa had ushered him out as she had insisted on being the one cleaning the kitchen after dinner tonight, when Jisung nearly crashed against him on the stairs.
“There you are! Let’s go!” The boy took Seungmin by his sleeve and dragged him to the stairs leading to the quarter deck.
“Where are we going?” Seungmin had to nearly yell as he was on the side of Jisung’s head with the not very-well working ear.
“The map! There’s only two days left until we reach the shores of that island!”

Right. They were treasure hunting, Seungmin had nearly forgot that in his daze filled with Hyunjin. Something had… shifted after the little happening. Seungmin didn’t know what, but somehow they had got… closer. Well, they had been close before, very close, but now it felt like there was absolutely nothing separating them anymore. Except work. And occasionally Seungmin hated that. Somehow the trust in between had got so strong that Seungmin was sure nothing would ever be able to break it. And that was scary, as it was lovely. It was still… Hyunjin was alive, and they were together again, and occasionally Seungmin found himself wondering how that was even real. But it was. It was. He just had to believe that. Trust that. As he had to trust Hyunjin with his siren thing, which he was, he had… started to accept it as part of reality, as part of Hyunjin, and it hadn’t even been all that difficult, he realized suddenly.

Seungmin and Jisung got a few curious glances as they strode up the stairs to the quarter deck. The crew was used to it, the eight of them always went through the plans and maps and whatever before Chan would announce them to the rest of the crew. The original eight, that’s what the crew called them. And sometimes they joked that Chan had seven quartermasters instead of one (and perhaps Changbin always got a little grumpy by that, just to enhance the joke). Seungmin didn’t mind it one bit, he liked being the one discussing plans and taking part in the planning itself because that way he could ensure Hyunjin’s safety at all times. Or well. At least for the most part.

Jisung opened the door to Chan’s cabin, the others were already waiting for them. Hyunjin had left space for Seungmin on the sofa and as he sat down, he could feel Hyunjin’s arms snaking around his waist. Seungmin let him do that, he was fine with such… minimal things. And he knew Hyunjin liked being close to Seungmin. And they had been separated for what, three hours? Too many hours in Seungmin’s opinion.

Chan began by unfolding the map Minho, Jeongin and Hyunjin had got them from the cave.
“Great, everyone’s here! As you all know, we are closing into the last island that allegedly contains the lost treasure of Flor de la Mar. The sail has been easy so far since we have been avoiding the trade routes and shallow seas and taking the long way, but I have a gut feeling that the cave at the first island was just the beginning. There’s clearly some witchy business in this as well as songs from sirens, and we can’t get too careful with this. Understood?”
Agreeing mumbles, Seungmin nodded his head.
“That means we’ll have to be extremely careful when we get to the island. We’ll stay together. Alert others of anything out of ordinary. Viola will be very much of use once we set our feet on the island.” The owl hooted from Minho’s shoulder as she heard her name being said.
“I’m sure you all know this by now, but if anything we encounter is too risky, too scary, or too… beyond us, we’ll turn back. I won’t risk losing all of you again.”
Seungmin felt the hands around his waist tightening a little, Hyunjin placed his chin on Seungmin’s shoulder. Chan eyed his crewmates one by one, before pointing at their target on the map.

“The map contains the directions to the place. It’s another cave, if I’m correct. The island we’re headed for isn’t unmarked, but it’s unnamed, which means there’s nothing too important on it. It’s bigger than the last one we visited. There’s going to be a lot of untamed jungle, a lot of climbing and a lot of walking.”
“We have to leave some of the crew behind”, Changbin mumbled.
“Yeah. I’m thinking half and half”, Chan glanced at the actual quartermaster.
“Half and half sounds smart. We might need manpower in there, but if everything goes south… well, half of the people get Calliope, then.”
“Mmhm.”
That always sounded so horrible to Seungmin, even if he knew it was the only choice they got. Someone had to stay behind to look after the ship, especially since they wouldn’t once again be able to get it close to the island and would have to row.

“It also looks like there is a river going into the island, so it really isn’t a small one. We may use that to get closer to whatever is in the center. The treasure is probably hidden well.” Chan mumbled, examining the map in front of them.
“I’m so excited”, Felix breathed out, a little smile quirking the corner of his mouth.
“What was in the cave about the actual placement of the treasure?” Seungmin asked. He wanted to know as much as possible before diving head-first into the jungle.

Chan pushed the other drawn map towards them, Jeongin explained it in turn.
“There’s some sort of a rock formation along the river, and after that one should get up from the boats. Then one is going to walk all the way through the jungle until they encounter some sort of a break on the ground. We aren’t sure what it is, maybe a cave, maybe the ground has broken down or something. After that one should somehow cross it, then walk 200 steps after seeing a boulder, turn towards something large which we assume means a hill or a mountain or something, and the last rays of sunlight should show the place which you can use to access the place where the treasure is.”
“And how in the seven seas did you get that out of the diamonds on the cave walls?” Jisung blurted out, staring at the half-mermaid.
“There was a skeleton holding the instructions, but had we moved the scroll in its hand, the cave would have collapsed on us”, Minho, completely nonchalantly, said. Seungmin glanced at Hyunjin next to him, slightly horrified. Hyunjin just shrugged his shoulders.
“That sounds even worse”, Chan mumbled, before taking the map leading to the location of the treasure.
“It does. But think about it, if the captain didn’t want anyone finding his treasure, then he wouldn’t have given any instructions. Maybe he just wants to see who’s smart enough. And has the… right people for that. Since he was associated with a bunch of not completely humans, too”, Changbin muttered from the sofa opposite to Seungmin.
“Are we smart enough?” Chan asked his friends.
Changbin glanced at the witch sitting at the other end of the table: “We have Minho. The answer is yes.”

***

Seungmin couldn’t sleep. Hyunjin could, he had nearly draped himself completely on top of Seungmin and was sleeping peacefully, clutching to Seungmin’s shirt, the one he usually slept in. The island was one day away from them, they would reach it tomorrow afternoon, and then they’d immediately head for the treasure as they would have to be in the correct place at sunset. Seungmin felt stressed. A bit anxious, even. He didn’t really know what it was, or perhaps he did – he wasn’t entirely keen on finding out what was waiting for them on the island. He was worried. Not only for Hyunjin, but for all of his friends. He just had to hope everything would go right. And that his gut feeling was wrong.

Hyunjin turned in his sleep and let go of Seungmin, nuzzling his own pillow instead. Seungmin sighed and rose to sit on the bed. Maybe a stroll around the decks would help a little? Gods knew he needed to sleep since tomorrow would be a really long one, but he just felt… restless. Yeah, Changbin was supposed to be on the helm for half of the night, maybe Seungmin would go say hi to him. So that’s what he did, rose from the bed as quietly and carefully as he could in order to not disturb his dearest in his dreamland, now that he finally was sleeping peacefully.

The floor of the kitchen creaked a little under Seungmin’s weight, but the noise wasn’t loud enough to wake anyone up. As Seungmin opened the door to the main deck, the fresh, slightly cold night air cradled his face, and if there had been even an ounce of sleep in his mind, then it was completely gone by now. Seungmin looked around his surroundings, but saw nothing, really. Darkness surrounded them, the moon was closing to a new moon and the sliver of a crescent didn’t light up the world as much as a full moon would have. The wind pushed them across the sea towards their target, the waves rippled against the hull of the ship, and for a moment, Seungmin felt at peace.

“Can’t sleep?” He heard Changbin calling to him from the helm and turned around before rising the stairs to the quarter deck. To his surprise, Minho was awake, too.
“No”, Seungmin shook his head.
“Welcome to the club”, Minho mumbled. He had abandoned his usual black robes, which was something out of ordinary.
“Who’s on the look-out?” Seungmin asked as he glanced up and saw someone standing in the crow’s nest, far above them.
“Cleo”, Changbin answered as he turned the helm slightly to the starboard side of the ship.

“How’s Hyunjin? Any luck on the siren try-outs?” Changbin then asked as Seungmin sat down on the compass table next to Minho.
“He’s doing better. I think it’s… getting easier for him. He sleeps more peacefully, too.”
“That’s good.”
Minho hummed in agreement. “I think he was quite happy that he could help back at the cave by using his siren charms. We wouldn’t have got in without him and his oversensitivity.”
Seungmin nodded.
“I don’t think he sees any of us as threats anymore. I mean, at least he didn’t really act like neither me nor Jeongin were threats to him down there.”
“That’s good”, Seungmin mumbled at Minho’s words. It was relieving, really.
“Now we just gotta get him used to the entire crew and then he can walk around with his siren charms as much as he likes”, Changbin let out a light laugh. All of them knew that would ensue in chaos.
“I’m glad to see he’s accepting himself”, Minho said before continuing: “That’s the key. Once he fully accepts himself as who he is, he’ll finally be in full control.”

Seungmin knew that and nodded again. The atmosphere around them was peaceful, even if the winds were strong tonight and kept pushing the ship forwards at quite a speed. Or maybe it wasn’t all that peaceful, now that Seungmin really thought about it. There was something about it. Something small. Almost unnoticeable.
“How’s Felix?” Seungmin asked in turn from Changbin.
“I feel like sometimes he forgets we were even separated. Or that he used to be part of the better people. He’s fine. Wants either cuddles or sparring sessions all the time, there’s no in between.”
Both Seungmin and Minho laughed at that. Very typical of Felix.

A silence fell in between the three of them, calm and gentle. Changbin and Minho were rather easy to be with, even if Minho and Seungmin had never been that close as Minho very often kept to himself (and Jisung). Seungmin was glad of his company, nevertheless. It eased his mind.

Until it didn’t.
“I have a bad feeling about this”, Minho mumbled and broke the silence.
“What do you mean?” Changbin asked, eyes the witch as he turned the helm slightly.
“It’s just… it’s this gut feeling. I felt it before Euryale was attacked. And a few times… after that before something dangerous happened.”
Seungmin swallowed, he could feel himself tensing up:
“Are you saying we’re sailing towards something dangerous?”
“No, not really… it’s just… it’s hard to explain. I feel like our target itself isn’t dangerous. It’s… something else.”
“Are we going to be attacked?” Changbin asked. Seungmin couldn’t really hear fear in his voice. He thought he was untouchable now that he had Calliope and Felix on his side again.
“I don’t know… I mean, when we were sailing with Odysseus, I didn’t feel the same before we were attacked. So it could be nothing, too.”
“Has your gut feeling been wrong before?” Seungmin asked, anxiety making itself known again.
“…Not really”, Minho admitted.
“Should we talk to Chan?” Changbin asked, and perhaps he sounded a little worried now, too.
“Maybe. I don’t know. I mean, it’s something… else. Not the hunt itself. Not the treasure we’re looking for, not the island. Something… else.”
“Hmh. Alright.”

Oh no. If Minho had a bad feeling, then so did Seungmin. Oh no. Oh dear.

***

Minho didn’t utter even a single word about his gut feelings the next day, and Seungmin didn’t dare to ask any further. The witch seemed to be completely himself, didn’t even look at Seungmin or Changbin weirdly whatsoever. Seungmin wasn’t sure if he liked that. Perhaps Minho’s bad gut feeling had passed, and he was feeling fine now. Maybe it was just… a gut feeling, and nothing actually important. Otherwise the day passed by with ease, the air was filled with excitement, the winds were on their side and waves almost gentle. Seungmin didn’t see much of Hyunjin during the day as Chan had ordered the crew to get ready for the next day, polish and sharpen some swords and stuff like that and Seungmin was busy in the kitchen, as always.

Hyunjin spent his evening sparring with Felix and a few others, too, as Seungmin had to gather enough food for everyone leaving for the treasure hunt on the island. Everyone would get their own little rucksacks and bags for water, just in case. The travel could be long, they had no idea. Or it could be easy and quick to make, and the treasure would be easy to find and Seungmin truly hoped that, but things really didn’t tend to go his way, so he knew that their journey would not most likely be an easy one.

The sun was almost down as Seungmin could finally take his apron off, Luisa bid him a good night as she exited the kitchen to head for the crew’s quarters. Seungmin sighed and washed his hands before heading towards the back of the kitchen. He knew Hyunjin was already in their cabin, he had seen him return roughly an hour ago as Jisung had called Felix to inspect some important maps and they had had to finish their sparring session early. Seungmin knocked on the door before twisting the knob and pushing it open, and suddenly, the few nights prior repeated itself.

This time Hyunjin didn’t jump off from the bed, he only sat there, alarmed for a few seconds, but calming as he recognized Seungmin. His red eyes examined Seungmin from head to toe before he got up, calmly. He wasn’t… trembling. His movements were somewhat erratic, yes, but he wasn’t shaking. He was… in control.
“Hey”, Seungmin breathed out as Hyunjin closed the distance in between them, pulling him immediately into a hug. It was a soft hug. It wasn’t intense like the last time. Seungmin didn’t feel overwhelmed, he felt warm, he felt like the room was filled with sunlight and all of his senses had finally found peace.

Hyunjin didn’t say anything, which was probably better for Seungmin, because the siren song would most likely make him turn into jelly again, and that was dangerous. Instead Hyunjin lifted his head from Seungmin’s shoulder and pressed a small, soft kiss on the corner of his mouth. Seungmin could feel his smile in the small peck. After that he watched as the red seeped out of Hyunjin’s eyes, returning back to soft brown.
“Hey”, Hyunjin breathed out then.
“Didn’t I say I’d appreciate a warning beforehand?” Seungmin lightly laughed.
“Yes. Sorry”, Hyunjin muttered before pressing another kiss, this time fully on Seungmin’s lips. Seungmin could tell that he wasn’t actually sorry.

“How was your day?” Hyunjin asked after that, Seungmin simply shrugged.
“Tiring. Same as always. Yours?”
“Fun. Except I hate sharpening swords. But me and Jeongin… we tried the siren thing. Or well, we were in his cabin and just sharpened some swords and I called out to the siren and then we just sat there. We didn’t talk or anything.”
“Oh?” Seungmin was surprised, and yes, he would have appreciated that Hyunjin would have told him he’d try it with someone else than him, but Hyunjin was his own person and perfectly capable of doing his own decisions, and he looked very excited, so Seungmin couldn’t really be mad. Or even annoyed.
“Yeah. It was just… it was alright. And there was a lot of noise around even if we were at Jeongin’s cabin, but it wasn’t… too overwhelming. I felt like… I was in control.”
Seungmin felt a sense of pride bloom in his chest, a smile formed on his lips.
“Like you just were?”
“Yeah”, Hyunjin nodded, a shy smile on him, too.
“I’m glad”, Seungmin mumbled before it was his turn to kiss Hyunjin.

“I guess we gotta… start to practice it around the crew now, too”, Hyunjin mumbled, a rose hue dusting over his nose. Seungmin nodded.
“Not today. Nor tomorrow. Maybe after we get back from the treasure hunt. We’ll go in your pace.”
Hyunjin nodded, before continuing: “I just want you to be there.”
“I’ll be there. I promise.” Seungmin pecked Hyunjin once more as if to make sure the other boy knew he was serious about the promise.

Seungmin swiped a lock of hair behind Hyunjin’s ear as they parted. Hyunjin looked alright. Alright was an understatement, he always looked incredibly beautiful in a way that couldn’t really be described, or at least Seungmin couldn’t do that. But Hyunjin looked alright, as in, he didn’t look like a shadow of the past him anymore. He looked like himself. He looked stronger than ever, in fact. There was a healthy hue of red on his cheeks, his skin had soaked sunlight into itself, the edges had softened, and his overall posture had got so, so much stronger. He was alright. He was home, he was safe, and he was alright. That realization seemed to shatter a tiny part of that guilt Seungmin still carried with him, take a small weight off of his shoulders. Yes, he still carried it with him, every day, even if he had decided to push it away for at least until Hyunjin would get better. And now he was getting better. And instead of guilty, it made Seungmin feel happy.

I love you. He could say that, right now. This was his chance, he could tell right now how much Hyunjin actually meant to him, he could whisper it to his entire world, even if Hyunjin probably knew that Seungmin loved him very much already. But there was that probably. And with Hyunjin’s insecurities and doubts of himself, Seungmin didn’t like that probably.

Then the moment passed as something above them clanked, Hyunjin tore his eyes away from Seungmin’s and mumbled something about going to sleep. And just like that, the chance slipped through Seungmin’s fingers, just as he had nearly gathered the courage to say those three words. Oh well. There would always be new chances.

***

What Seungmin had expected was a completely normal island with shores full of white sand and behind them a wild jungle, nearly impossible to walk through. What he had not expected to see from the decks of Calliope was a silhouette of an island, completely shrouded in a mist even if it was mid-day and the sun was high up in the air, scorching against their backs. The mist was so thick they could barely see the shores and the opening where the river connected to the sea. What was behind the shores remained unknown. And Seungmin did not have a good feeling about it.

“No wonder it’s an unnamed island. That mist probably scares regular sailors away”, Felix muttered under his breath next to Seungmin. The crew was packing the last of their belongings that they would take with them, boats were being lowered on the waves as Calliope had dropped anchors a few hundred meters away from the shore as the waters closer were too shallow.
“Thank gods we’re not regular sailors”, Jisung on the other side of Seungmin laughed as he took his little spyglass and tried to take a look at the island with it. His attempts were futile.
“No, we’re stupid enough to try to see what’s behind that mist”, Seungmin mumbled. Yes, he just had to be the one not in the mood for a treasure hunt. He still hadn’t forgot Minho’s words.
“The mist is tied to some sort of ancient spell”, the witch approached them, Viola on his shoulder. Ancient spell. Hah! Very reassuring!
“It’s just to keep people away. The mist itself isn’t going to harm us.”
“Very reassuring”, Seungmin sighed and got an elbow in his ribs.
“Come on, Seungmin! It will be fun!” Jisung cheerfully exclaimed just as Chan’s voice resonated through the decks:
“Everyone! Time to get to the boats!”

Roughly twenty people, a little over, gathered to the side of the ship with the boats and rope ladders. The rest of them, half of the crew would stay on the ship to look after it. There were five boats waiting for them on the waves, first crewmates were already descending the ladders to them. Seungmin took a step back to search for Hyunjin, but he didn’t have to search for long as the boy was suddenly on his other side, almost trembling with excitement. He had tied most of his hair in a ponytail, the few strands flew around in the wind even if he kept constantly pushing them behind his ears.
“I’m so excited!” Hyunjin giggled as he saw the somewhat serious look on Seungmin’s face.
“I can see that”, Seungmin gently smiled at him, before he got a quick kiss on his cheek.
“Looks scary”, Jeongin mumbled on the side as he pushed Seungmin towards the rope ladder. Seungmin hoisted his little rucksack on his shoulders and made sure his sword was tied tightly on his belt before descending the steps down himself. He took the seat at the end of the boat as he didn’t have to be the one rowing, for once. Hyunjin followed after him, sat next to him, and then their little boat was full and Jeongin had to take the next one along with Minho and Jisung. Changbin and Felix were already on the first one, Chan would be on the last one.

That’s how their journey began. The waves lead them gently towards the island, the speed wasn’t too hasty nor too slow. Hyunjin kept trying to lean over the boat to see what was beneath them, then he tried to stand up to see what they were going towards, then he kept turning to see if the rest of the boats were following them and Seungmin just had to wrap his arm around him so that the half-siren wouldn’t tip their entire boat with his shenanigans. He also looked away the second he got the tiniest quirk of a brow from Yeonjun, who was rowing opposite to them.

But Hyunjin didn’t need to wait for long as they approached the island. Changbin yelled instructions over the water to the rest of them as they headed for the rivermouth, and sooner than Seungmin would have liked, the mist engulfed their little boats. It didn’t feel pressuring, it was just mist. Thick one at that. It didn’t smell like anything, it felt a little cold on his skin, sunlight had a hard time seeping through it and warming the temperature. It felt like some sort of a barrier. Because it probably was that. What better island to hide a treasure in than one surrounded always by mist so scary-looking people avoided it?

And then they popped out of that mist. It just stopped, and they were past the shores and slowly rowing upstream through the river.
“There are quite a few rocks here, be careful!” Changbin’s voice resonated from the first boat. Seungmin glanced around, he still wasn’t sure what he had expected of the island hiding the treasure of Flor de la Mar, but the view from the boat was something he had pictured in his mind. Now that they were past the shore, both of their sides were full of thick jungle, so thick there was no way they could have made it through it by walking. Occasionally the land around them rose, leaving the river to stream in between cliffs so steep they couldn’t possibly climb them. The river was shallow, then it got deeper again, sometimes it widened, and then it narrowed so much their boats barely got through it and Seungmin could run his fingertips along the granite of the cliffs. The water in the river was mostly clear, they could see the fish underneath them, all of the greenery living in the water, the animals, snakes, frogs, lizards, all of it. It somewhat reassured Seungmin. There was life on the island, so it couldn’t be all that cursed.

But looking up and before them, it did feel cursed. It was dark. The growth of the jungle on their both sides was so thick that sunlight barely seeped through. It left them to row in a blue hue, as if the sun had set a while ago and night was approaching, even if Seungmin well knew it was only a little after mid-day. The trees of the jungle rose high above them and arched over the river, and Seungmin couldn’t really see the sky above them. He knew there was mist in there.

And it was quiet. Eerily so. The only sounds Seungmin could hear were the occasional birds from the jungle, the oars breaking through the water’s surface and the light waves rippling against the sides of the boats. It was quiet. Pressuringly quiet. No one spoke, even Changbin seemed to hesitate to yell for instructions, that could be heard from his voice. They rowed in silence, searched for the place where they were supposed to get off. They had no idea how deep the river would take them. At least half an hour passed by, the shore was left far behind them, as Changbin yelled from the front again:
“The rock formation! It’s on the right side!”

And it sure was, as Seungmin’s boat circled around a turn in the river, the river widened a little, and right beside the riverbank were at least twenty boulders, some arranged on top of one another. They created a circle, and had clearly stood in their places for a long time as they were covered with moss. If they hadn’t known what they would have been searching for, they could have missed the rock formation.

Following Changbin’s boat and the one in between them, Seungmin and Yeonjun jumped off of their boat and hauled it on the riverbank, safe from the stream. Soon the rest of them followed, and all of the boats were in a beat row next to one another, next to the rock formation. Hyunjin and Jisung were already exploring it:
“It looks like some sort of an altar from the inside!” Jisung yelled, breaking the silence of the jungle.
“Can you two be smart for once?” Minho yelled back at him, which got both Jisung and Hyunjin returning from the rock formation. Seungmin glanced at the half-siren, who only shrugged, before curiously looking around them.

“What’s next?” Felix asked, tried to peek over Changbin’s shoulder at the map in his hands.
“The jungle. We’re going to walk through it until we come across some sort of break on the ground. Not sure what kind. But I’d assume it’s big.”
“Alright. Into the jungle we go, then.”
All of them, the entire crew turned to stare into the jungle. It looked thick, but not as thick as it had closer to the shores. But it would be a hassle to walk through it.
“Which way do we even go?” Rubye asked, peering into the darkness.
“The instructions didn’t really say anything, so probably straight ahead”, Changbin mumbled.
“If it’s something big, then we’ll probably come across it eventually, no matter which way we’ll go”, Chan said as he unsheathed his sword. Changbin did the same and dove headfirst into the jungle, whacking down any branches that might block their way. The rest of them had no choice but to follow, so Seungmin took hold of Hyunjin’s hand, and following Jisung stepped into the thick forest.

It wasn’t as horrible as he would have imagined, nor as quiet as it had seemed from the river. Seungmin saw a few parrots, flocks of birds, some small creatures ran away from them as they pushed through the growth of the forest floor. Occasionally the trees made such a thick cover above them that light didn’t peek out at all and therefore there weren’t many plants on the ground and it was easy to walk. Then they rose to a small hill where there weren’t all that many trees, but there sure were bushes. And wildlife. Hyunjin nudged Seungmin’s shoulder and pointed above them, where there was a huge snake curled around a tree branch, and Seungmin hurried away from underneath it. Not a fan of those things, he was. And Hyunjin giggled at him, because he knew.

Green, green, more green, Lush green, dotted with other colors as there were a lot of flowers in the jungle, too. Seungmin still kept his hold of Hyunjin, and he had a plan to continue doing so throughout their travel. Just in case. Seungmin stumbled on a branch, then he nearly got whacked in the face with one as Jisung forgot to warn him about it, and
“Holy shit!” Changbin yelled from in front of their little travel group and Seungmin nearly crashed on Jisung’s back as he abruptly stopped.
“Well, that sure is a break on the ground!”

They all tried to peek at what was waiting for them in the front, and soon Seungmin got an answer as their group scattered. A split. On the ground. Right in the middle of the jungle, and Changbin had nearly just ran into it. The split continued down at least twenty meters and ended into a river.
“Isn’t that the river we just rowed through?” Chan asked as he glanced down. The ground seemed stable, so he dared to step close to the edge. Seungmin squeezed Hyunjin’s hand, he didn’t want to go any closer.
“It sure is”, Changbin said. “It’s too wide. We can’t jump across.” The split was a few meters wide, and while someone very strong and fast may have been able to make the jump with a little assistance, not all of them could have.
“Wasn’t there a narrower place ahead?” Hyunjin voiced from beside Seungmin.

So that was where they decided to head. They walked along the split on the ground, carefully as they had to dodge the trees and the edge of the split. Seungmin was thankful that Changbin had noticed it early enough, he couldn’t even… fathom that he would have fallen down in the river, even if he may have survived. Seungmin glanced up, he could now see the sun had moved a little, they had been traveling an hour or two now. He still wasn’t feeling all that tired, but then again, they were only half-way done with the travel.

“It’s still quite wide”, Felix said as they reached the narrower place on the split.
“There’s the boulder!” Jeongin pointed out and sure there was, on the other side of the split.
“How about a small break as we try to figure out how to get on the other side?” Chan proposed and the rest of them agreed. Seungmin spotted a fallen tree trunk to sit on, so there he, Hyunjin and Jeongin sat, basking in the sunlight seeping through the branches as Seungmin pulled out his water flask and offered it to Hyunjin before taking a drink himself.
“I could jump over that”, Hyunjin mumbled.
“But you won’t”, Seungmin glanced at his dearest and got an eyeroll as an answer.
“I won’t. Just to ease your nerves”, Hyunjin grinned before pressing a peck on Seungmin’s cheek. Jeongin simply snorted at the two of them. Chan and Changbin were standing at the edge of the split, looking down and then on the other side, trying to figure out what to do.

“We are sitting on a tree trunk.” Jeongin then said, out of the blue.
“We sure are.” Seungmin arched his eyebrow at the boy.
“No, dumbass. We are sitting on a long tree trunk.”
Oh.
“Oh!” Hyunjin exclaimed as he jumped up: “Everyone! We found a way! We are sitting on it right now!”

And then they hauled the tree trunk to be used as a makeshift bridge in between the edges of the split. The tree trunk did not look safe at all, even if the others tied some rope around it and then tied the rope around a nearby tree.
“Don’t hold back, just run across it and don’t look down!” Chan instructed as he was the first one to try out the bridge. With his heart in his throat Seungmin watched as the captain crossed to the other side with careful steps, safe and sound. The gap between the sides was a bit over two meters, so it wasn’t long, but it still made Seungmin nervous.

And then Hyunjin decided he’d be the next one to go, and Seungmin had no other choice except to follow him, and sooner than he knew, he was on the other side, too, waiting for the others. One by one the crew crossed the bridge to the other side and stood next to the huge boulder. All around them was jungle once again, but Seungmin could tell the ground started descending on the direction they were headed for next.

And the descent was a steep one.
“200 steps that way!” Changbin declared, took Felix by his hand and headed for the jungle. Again. And then they were on the move, and then Seungmin found himself trying to find places to set his feet on as he tried to climb down the cliff that descended down much steeper than he had anticipated. He had to let go of Hyunjin’s hand in order to brace himself against the cliffside, and if he wasn’t sweating before, then he sure as hell was now. Occasionally he could let go of the side as the cliff turned to a hill, and then he had to slide down the rocks again, and then he finally reached the bottom of the pass, breathing hard and sweating buckets. He couldn’t wait for the climb back up.

“How many steps do you think that was?” Felix wheezed next to Changbin as one by one the crewmembers reached the bottom of the pass as well, Chan as the last one. The air was slightly colder here, and Seungmin could hear something from ahead. Something… rushing. Water.
“Like fifty in length. But I think… I’m pretty sure that noise is what’s waiting for us 200 steps ahead.”

And again, their travel continued for 200 steps, and behind a cliffside they stepped to a clearing with one of the most beautiful views Seungmin had ever seen: a large waterfall fell down on the other side to a somewhat large pond, sunlight broke through the jungle above them and danced on the drops of water pouring down, creating little rainbows here and there. The waterfall was high, but not all that wide. The place was surrounded with the cliffs, leaving their little crew in a flourishing clearing, almost resembling a sinkhole. Maybe it was a sinkhole, or at least had been one thousands of years ago.

“There are more rock formations…” Jisung mumbled as they continued looking around. And there sure was, on both sides of the waterfall, and now that Seungmin really squinted, he could see that the cliffs around them had carvings, as if pillars to hold a roof above them. The roof was gone, most of the pillars had broken down, but some were still visible to the eye.
“Maybe some sort of an ancient temple?” Seungmin questioned. Hyunjin next to him shrugged his shoulders, so did Jeongin.
“I bet my ass the entrance is behind the waterfall”, Changbin said.
“Too obvious”, Chan muttered. In the middle of the pond was a small island, on it a small tree. Then Seungmin realized it wasn’t a pond, but the beginning of the river, and there was another opening in between the cliffs on the other side of the place, where the river flowed down before continuing its travel.
“It’s beautiful”, Hyunjin whispered, just barely loud enough for Seungmin to hear as the noise coming from the waterfall was enough to cover normal chit-chat close by.

Seungmin took a few steps towards the river, Hyunjin followed along with Minho. Seungmin cocked his eyebrow at the witch, but he shook his head: there wasn’t anything dangerous close by. Maybe the dangerous part really had been getting to the map. The stream of the small river wasn’t powerful and the river was very shallow, so Seungmin walked through it to the other side, towards the opening, and sighed when he got there.

“Um, guys… come take a look at this.”

Because from the opening in between the cliffs, Seungmin could see their ship. And the shores. Below them. Well, there was some jungle, but if he were to start walking now, it would take him probably half an hour to reach the shore.
“Are you kidding me?” Jisung wheezed as he got to Seungmin’s side. Hyunjin bursted into laughter with Jeongin.
“Did we just walk around the entire day when we could have walked straight from the shores here?!” Jisung yelled, frustrated.
“We couldn’t have, we didn’t even see this place through the mist, and I’m quite certain we wouldn’t have found this place without the map, anyway.” Chan reminded him, laughter in his voice. The mist had dispersed from around the island, or it was only visible from the other side as they could see the ship clearly.
“Is it really all that surprising? I mean, do you all think the captain of Flor de la Mar would have hauled his treasures all the way we just walked?” Jeongin giggled.
“Well, getting back sure is going to be easy”, Changbin cackled in turn, and Seungmin felt relieved. Thank god. At least something easy in this.

Chan turned around then, eyed the rest of the crew on the other side of the small river and clapped his hands together.
“Alright, everyone! Even if getting back is going to be easier, we still need to stay here until nightfall! The last rays of sunshine are going to show us the way to go, so we’re going to have to wait for that! Do what you please, explore around, get back here before dark, don’t get hurt! Eat or take a nap, we still have a few hours to go!”

***

Seungmin sat under the shadow of the cliff, back leaning against one of the stone structures next to the waterfall, surrounded with lush flowers. Hyunjin had his head on his lap, he had fallen asleep (and so had Seungmin’s leg, but he didn’t have the heart to move). Seungmin wasn’t sure how Hyunjin was able to sleep in all of the noise the waterfall created, but that was what he did, chest heaving peacefully as he slept, head on Seungmin’s thigh. The nightfall wasn’t far anymore, the sun had started to set a while ago, painting their surroundings in hues of orange. It was beautiful.

They had eaten a little, then explored the area, never wandering off too far. There was nothing behind the waterfall, they had checked. Or well, Celyn and Cleo, two of their crewmembers had. There was just a cliffside behind it, no secret caves or anything. Seungmin was rather intrigued, nothing in the area seemed to be any sort of… opening anywhere. What if they had read the map wrong? Or the others had? Or there just wasn’t any sort of treasure at all? Well, the travel had been fun, so… Seungmin wouldn’t have felt too disappointed at that.

The others would have, he knew it. Felix was constantly on the move, exploring every single little cranny and nook around the area, he and Jisung had figured out that the place they were at were indeed ruins of some ancient temple. Minho apparently couldn’t really feel any magical energies around him, so the place must have been abandoned for a long time, the only remains of the magic being the mist around the island. Seungmin felt more at peace by that. He really enjoyed the atmosphere at the little valley. It wasn’t even a valley. It almost felt like the bottom of a volcano or something.

Seungmin really hoped it wasn’t one.

“Alright, everyone! The sun will be gone soon!” Chan yelled from the other side of the area, Seungmin could feel how the atmosphere in the area spiked with excitement. Gently he nudged Hyunjin’s shoulder, the other stirred in his sleep a little before his eyes fluttered open.
“Morning”, he mumbled, and Seungmin couldn’t help the little smile splaying on his lips. So perhaps he leaned forwards to press a little kiss on the corner of Hyunjin’s mouth, before muttering a “Good evening.”

Seungmin helped Hyunjin up from the ground, swept a bit of grass off the backside of his pants before focusing on their captain. They could see the setting sun from the opening in between the cliffs, it set behind their ship, gently swaying on the waves a few hundred meters away. It was peaceful, yet somehow not. The crew was excited, and maybe that excitement was getting to Seungmin, too.
“Keep looking around, everyone, the sunlight should show us the way any moment now- What in the seven seas!”

Quickly Seungmin turned to see what Chan was looking at, but he didn’t need to search for long. His mouth fell open, and he couldn’t help but stare above them.

Slowly, little by little, the receding sun brought out the treasure. There wasn’t a door, the treasure was all around them. As the last rays of sunlight lit up the cliffs around them, the stone seemed to start glimmering. Glittering. Sparkling. Diamonds. The cliffs around them were full of diamonds, and the sunlight made them shine, it made the entire place glow in different hues of the rainbow.

But it didn’t end there, oh no. As the light slowly made its way down the cliffs, the river beneath their feet started glittering, too, along with the pond. Seungmin took a step closer, he could see diamonds upon diamonds, varying in colors underneath the water. He reached forwards, took one of the sparkling stones from the water. It was a gemstone. An emerald, to be exact, the green hues casted shadows on Seungmin’s fingers.
“Wow”, Hyunjin breathed out next to him, before he reached for another diamond from underneath the water’s surface.

“Holy hell”, Seungmin heard Changbin from the other side of the small stream. Felix looked like three seconds from passing out as he stared at all the glittering around him. The other crewmembers gathered around the stream, too, as the diamonds in them were the only ones they could take out. The ones etched into the cliffs around them couldn’t be taken out with just using hands, they would need something else for that.
“This… this is the treasure of Flor de la Mar?” Rubye asked.
“It has to be. There’s… there’s no doors. And this is what sunset showed us”, Chan answered.

For some reason, the glimmering of the gemstones didn’t end as the sun set. They still continued shining, sparkling as the orange light deepened to pink. Seungmin could see that the sun was completely underneath the horizon now, yet still, the diamonds continued shining like stars. As if the light somehow came from the diamonds themselves. Just like in the cave, as Hyunjin, Minho and Jeongin had said.

Seungmin glanced at the half-siren next to him, who was looking around with wonder in his eyes. The gemstones reflected against his eyes like little stars, he had a small smile on his lips and for a moment, Seungmin couldn’t help but stare. They may have been surrounded by a million diamonds at the heart of nature, yet still Hyunjin somehow managed to be the most beautiful sight to see in the little cove.
“What?” Hyunjin mumbled as he noticed Seungmin staring at him. Seungmin simply shook his head, but decided to blurt it out, anyway. It wasn’t like he got a lot of chances like this:
“You’re beautiful. That’s all.”
Seungmin could see how slight blush dusted over the bridge of Hyunjin’s nose as he turned his head away, suddenly feeling shy by the attention Seungmin was giving him. And perhaps it made Seungmin feel a little shy, too.

“We are going to have a hell of a time getting all of the diamonds out of here”, Changbin grimaced at their captain.
“Yeah. Maybe we’ll just fill our bags, wait for the day and then return to the ship to get some buckets or something since now we know the way. And we’re going to get here more easily.”
The crewmembers around them agreed, even if they would get more easily to the ship now, it wasn’t still wise to start moving back and forth now as the night was nearing them. The way down the hill could have been full of traps for all they knew. And their boats were still at the river.

Suddenly Viola screeched and took flight from Minho’s shoulder, just as a loud shout resonated through the air:
“You!”
It all happened within a matter of seconds. Seungmin looked up just as from beyond the cliffs above them, at least thirty men, equipped with bows aimed at them. Then he felt himself being yanked, no, dragged by the back of his shirt backwards just as from the corner of his eye he saw both openings of the cove being flooded with men.
Seungmin could hear Changbin yelling “What the hell!” and then multiple blades being drawn as he stumbled back, tried to keep himself upright when he was being dragged several meters, close to the waterfall.

“Seungmin!” The screech pierced through the air, stronger than the others, and Seungmin realized it wasn’t Hyunjin pulling him to safety, oh no! Finally whoever had grabbed Seungmin by the back of his shirt stopped and yanked him upright violently, and then Seungmin could feel something cold and hard being pressed against his throat. Something cold. Something hard. Something sharp. A knife.
“One wrong move and the siren dies”, that someone mumbled next to his ear, and Seungmin could swear he had heard the voice before, he just didn’t know where.

Not that Seungmin would have been able to move. He was paralyzed with terror. He watched as his crewmembers were pushed together, surrounded with blades by these strange people, they were clearly outnumbered, and by a landslide. Pirates, Seungmin realized. They were pirates, too, they didn’t have any uniforms on. A pirate crew was attacking them. How- why- how had they- where had these people come from, how-?

But as much as Seungmin would have wanted to search for answers, he couldn’t. He couldn’t, once his eyes set to Hyunjin, who still hadn’t drawn his sword as he had two pirates pointing their blades at him, blocking his way to Seungmin. Hyunjin looked horrified. Absolutely terrified to his core. His eyes kept flickering in between the one holding Seungmin and Seungmin himself. He knew who was holding Seungmin. He knew the person squeezing the back of Seungmin’s shirt so hard it was getting harder to breathe second by second, even if Seungmin tried to hold to the front in order to not be strangled to death.

And then Seungmin remembered where he had heard the voice. The quartermaster of Kraken. The one who had tried to fight them in Singapore. The quartermaster of Kraken was holding Seungmin, a knife against his throat.
“Easy! We are here for one person only, don’t forget that. No need for more blood to be spilled!” A yell resonated from somewhere close to Seungmin, who was standing right by the opening that led to the shores. The voice belonged to a woman, and soon enough the woman walked into the clearing from beside Seungmin. Seungmin could only see her backside, the brown curls cascading down her back and the fitted, dark red embroidered jacket she had on. A captain. She was a captain. A pirate captain.

Seungmin could feel the silence falling over the clearing as he tried to wheeze for air, struggle against the grip holding him. He couldn’t get far, every time he tried to gasp for air, the blade on his throat pressed against his skin harder. Seungmin was fairly sure it had broken already; he could feel something warm running down his throat and simply hoped the wound wasn’t large enough. It couldn’t be. It didn’t hurt that much. Or he just couldn’t feel it from the adrenaline.

“Who are you? What do you want?” Seungmin could hear Chan yelling over the sound of the waterfall on the other side, as he was surrounded by at least five men.
“I am the captain of Serpent. And this is my crew. One of your crewmembers has a bone to pick with me”, the woman, exuding power, answered.
Serpent. Serpent. Seungmin had heard the name before, he had heard it, it was… It was a Dutch pirate ship! Usually heisted in the Mediterranean! What the hell was it doing here?!

“Half a year ago the crew of a Dutch merchant ship was murdered in cold blood in the biggest port of Aruba.”
No. Nonono. No. Oh no. No.
“The crew was found with their throats slit open and their eyes gouged out. All crewmembers were found from the ship but one, one was missing, one, a very new member of the crew was missing from the ship.”
No. No. This wasn’t happening. This wasn’t happening.
“And now that one member is standing in front of me.” The woman’s voice reached height as she stared at the person in front of her. Hyunjin was shaking his head, staring at the woman, he wasn’t believing the situation, he couldn’t- This wasn’t happening. It wasn’t happening.

“Did you kill my brother? Did you kill the captain of that ship?” The woman stared at Hyunjin, drew her blade out. She was here to kill him. She was here to kill Hyunjin.
“No”, Seungmin could almost hear Hyunjin whimper, he could see the tears glimmer in his eyes as he kept shaking his head, his gaze still flickering in between the woman and Seungmin. Seungmin didn’t know what to do, he didn’t- he had to- no-
“Did you slit his throat?! Did you gouge his eyes out, you filthy monster?” The woman screamed at him, so loud it left the rumble of the waterfall second.
“No!” Hyunjin yelled back. The woman nodded his head towards Seungmin and the quartermaster of Kraken, and Seungmin could feel the hold around his throat tightening so much he couldn’t breathe. He gasped out loud as the hold of him was so strong his toes barely reached the ground, he tried to claw the hand holding him, but got only a cold chuckle in return, he couldn’t even see Hyunjin anymore as the hold made him look up to the edges of the cliff.

“Seungmin! Let go of him!” he could hear Hyunjin screaming, and that scream was a desperate one.
“Did you kill him? Did you kill them?!”
“I told you I’d make sure his life was going to end in the worst way possible”, Seungmin heard the chuckle from next to his ear. Seungmin tried to shake his head, he tried to somehow get to his feet, get himself out of that grip holding him, he had to- he had to- before it would be too late, he had to get himself somehow free-

“Maybe I did.”
Seungmin felt the blood in his veins freezing. The grip of him loosened a little, he could finally get air into his lungs. The entire clearing seemed to paralyze, and this time not with fear. Seungmin could finally reach the ground, he could finally get his gaze back to Hyunjin instead of the men above them in the cliffs. And if his voice wasn’t enough to spark terror deep inside the people around them, then the sight of him was.
“Maybe I did kill him. Maybe I did slit his throat and gouge his eyes out! Maybe he should have thought twice before trying to touch me with his disgusting, filthy hands!”
Seungmin watched as Hyunjin’s warm, brown eyes, filled with tears, seeped into blood red. He could hear, he could feel how the siren song wrapped the people in the cove into its velvety grip, he could feel how his surroundings faded out a little.

Hyunjin took a step forward, the blades of the two men in front of him pressing against his chest. Seungmin could see how the men trembled in front of Hyunjin.
“Maybe I did kill him. Maybe I did kill him! And maybe I enjoyed every second of it, every scream of terror he let out! What are you going to do about that?” Hyunjin screamed as his gaze shifted finally from Seungmin to the man on his right and he sprung forwards, barely dodging the blade before he clawed the man’s throat open and pushed him away, only to immediately turn to the one on his left. They had cornered him. They had cornered the siren, and now they had hell to pay.

Chaos erupted in the cove, as suddenly dark smoke poured out from the waterfall, blocking the sight from the men above them immediately. Seungmin could hear Viola screeching, followed by men screaming, Hyunjin wasn’t the only one with sharp claws. Minho was pulling off his tricks, Seungmin realized and hoped the pirates holding the bows wouldn’t start shooting blindly. Hyunjin screamed, Seungmin’s knees buckled and the grip of him loosened again as Hyunjin’s charms worked their ways around the people in the area. This was his chance, Seungmin knew it, he was one of the people who were already somewhat accustomed to Hyunjin, so he kicked backwards, hard, heard the man next to him grunt, and he could finally yank himself free from the grip. Blindly he pulled his sword out and plunged it to his left where he knew the quartermaster of Kraken was. He watched as the blade sunk deep within his chest, he watched as the man’s face changed from confusion to terror, as red bloomed from his chest when Seungmin pulled his sword out and the man fell onto his knees. And he felt nothing but joy seeing the red on his blade, as the man took his last breaths and life left him.

Seungmin tore his eyes away from the man as Hyunjin screeched again, he was being approached by three men with wobbly feet as they didn’t know whether to run towards the siren or away from him. One by one, Seungmin watched as one by one Hyunjin sunk his fingertips into their throats, as more and more blood ran down his hands and dirtied his pure white shirt, and the red in his eyes never flickered. And Seungmin simply stood there and watched, almost bewitched, as his lover gouged out one pirate’s eyes out, only to throw his bloodied body in the river beneath his feet.

Yeonjun was on the move, so were Jeongin, Minho, Cleo and Celyn as they were the only ones not affected at all by the siren song. Seungmin watched as Yeonjun took down three men with the swipe of his sword, he watched as Minho ran to Jisung, took ahold of his head and whispered something which seemed to snap Jisung out of the spell Hyunjin had casted upon them, only to run to the next crewmember after that. Jeongin made his way to Chan just to get Minho through the people surrounding him and one by one Minho used his powers to rid their crewmembers from the siren song. A few ran out of the cove, Seungmin knew they were headed for the men above them as their crew wasn’t the type to run from a battle.

“You will pay! I will make you pay!” The scream snapped Seungmin’s attention back to Hyunjin, who had left a trail of bodies behind him as one by one men tried to get to him, to sink their blades through his chest and put an end to the siren song.
“Surround him! Get him, you lousy bastards! He’s just a siren!” The captain of Serpent yelled, and Seungmin watched with horror as ten more men surrounded Hyunjin, and Hyunjin seemed to lose his track, he seemed to lose the way he was going, and that finally got Seungmin to move.

“Hyunjin!” he yelled as he plunged his sword into yet another pirate’s heart, trying to make his way to his dearest. Hyunjin let out a screech so inhuman it made Seungmin stumble and nearly fall into the river. Somehow, somehow Hyunjin had the ability to dodge and attack, even if he was surrounded by so many pirates trying to kill him. One more pirate tried to block Seungmin’s way, and Seungmin slit their throat with the tip of his blade, kicked them away from his way.
“Hyunjin!” he tried yelling again, he wasn’t sure what he was trying to do, warn the other that he was coming, tell him that he was close, that he was there to protect him, that he wasn’t alone anymore.

And then he broke through the circle surrounding Hyunjin and sunk his blade deep within the first man’s chest that he got to. There was nothing in his eyes but red anymore, the river from around them was deep red, his hands were deep red, Hyunjin’s eyes were deep red as Seungmin blocked one blade thrusted Hyunjin’s way and circled to his backside, hoping Hyunjin would recognize him, hoping he wouldn’t see him as a threat. Seungmin blocked one more blade, he could hear something swishing, something flying past his ear. The mist had dispersed, Seungmin glanced up and saw Yeonjun, one by one mirroring Hyunjin’s movements and throwing men down the cliff into the waterfall with their throats slit open.

Hyunjin let out a shrill screech again, and Seungmin realized they weren’t surrounded anymore, oh no. There were maybe five people left of the attacking crew, others had run, the rest of them had been killed under the siren song as the crew of Calliope slashed through the clearing with all they got.
“Hyunjin. Hyunjin!” Seungmin yelled over the waterfall as Hyunjin spun around towards him. Seungmin was next on the line. No. Oh no. Seungmin was next on the line.
“Hyunjin, it’s me. Hyunjin, love, it’s me”, Seungmin shouted as Hyunjin lunged forward. At the last second Seungmin dodged Hyunjin’s hands, dropped his blade and took a hold of his wrists, just as he had seen Felix do. Hyunjin tried to yank himself away.
“Hyunjin, it’s Seungmin. Love, it’s me!” Seungmin tried again, tried to search for his gaze. Hyunjin was far. But he wasn’t unreachable, Seungmin knew it, he was somewhere there, beneath the layers of fear.

And then Hyunjin stopped jerking and pulling himself away as his eyes locked into Seungmin’s.
“Hyunjin, it’s me”, Seungmin said, hoping the siren would hear it.
“Seungmin”, he heard the siren mutter, and that alone made Seungmin feel weak, his knees buckle and vision cloud.
“Hyunjin, love, I need you to come back to me, it’s over-“

And just as the words left his lips, he watches as a sliver of silver flashed behind Hyunjin, and before he had time to do anything, a sword pierced Hyunjin’s stomach from the back, bursting more red through the already soaked shirt. Then the blade was yanked back, and Hyunjin gasped, falling to his knees.

The entire world around Seungmin seemed to stop.

“H- no- Hyunjin, no Hyunjin, Hyunjin!” Seungmin screamed, something green ran past them and Seungmin could hear more screaming mixing in with the rumble of the waterfall. Seungmin fell on to his knees, skin scraping against the rocks at the bottom of the shallow river, the clear water replaced with blood red.
“No, nonono, this isn’t, no, Hyunjin!” Seungmin heard himself screaming. He let go of Hyunjin’s wrists as the half-siren slumped forwards. Seungmin tried to press against the wound on his stomach, then on his back, but red only seeped through his fingers. So much red. So much blood.

“No, no, no, Hyunjin, you-“
“Seungmin”, Hyunjin wheezed out, eyes still red as he buried his head on Seungmin’s shoulder. Seungmin could feel the shaky arms wrapping around him.
“Hyunjin, you are alright, it’s, it’s just a little wound, okay? You’re alright, you’re going to be alright, okay?” Seungmin’s voice trembled. This wasn’t happening, this wasn’t, no, this wasn’t happening, it couldn’t be happening! Seungmin took Hyunjin’s head in his hands, lifted it from his shoulder, he had to see, he had to tell him, he,
“Hyunjin, Hyunjin, do you hear me?”
“Seungmin, I- It’s so… cold”, Hyunjin’s face contorted in pain.
No. No. No. This wasn’t happening, it couldn’t- no- Seungmin had already, he had already lost him once, he couldn’t do it again, he couldn’t, he couldn’t he couldn’t!

“Stay with me, love, okay? Stay with me, Hyunjin, you’re going to be okay.” Seungmin sobbed, he could feel the warm tears streaming down his face. His bloody hands made a mess on Hyunjin’s cheeks as he tried to hold him upright. Hyunjin grimaced, he tried to smile at Seungmin.
“I’m sorry, Seungmin, I am-“
“No, no, you don’t- there’s nothing to be sorry of, alright? Just stay with me, alright? You’re going to be alright.”
“Seungmin-“ Hyunjin whimpered.
“Someone help!” Seungmin tried to scream, before he pulled Hyunjin into a tight hug. He could feel the siren trembling in his arms. He couldn’t- no, he, no-
“Don’t let go, okay? You’re going to be alright, you will, we’ll be fine, we’ll survive this, okay?”
“I- I’m sorry, Seungmin”, Seungmin heard Hyunjin whisper, before the trembling stopped. Before all of it stopped.

Before Hyunjin let out his last breath.

No.

No.

No, no, this- no.

He- no.

“Hyunjin?”

No. Nonono. No.

“Hyunjin, do you hear me?” Seungmin whimpered. “Hyunjin?”

This wasn’t happening. No. Seungmin had already lost him once, he had already lost him once, he had already bid him farewell once, he couldn’t, he couldn’t do it again, no, not like this, not like this-
“Hyunjin?”

But he got no answer.

Seungmin could feel the tears pouring down his face. He could feel his entire being shake with the tremors wracking through him. He felt angry. He felt so incredibly angry, he felt rage so deep it trembled his entire body. Carefully, gently he let Hyunjin’s body slip through his arms on the ground, he laid him to rest on the riverbank among the diamonds.

Then he took his sword and stood up.

The captain of Serpent was still holding her sword, watching the scene in front of her unfold as Chan had his own blade pointed at her throat. Seungmin trembled with rage as he saw her and the blood dripping down her sword.
“You killed him. You killed the love of my life”, Seungmin whimpered, “do you feel happy now?”
He waited as the woman’s gaze moved from Hyunjin’s body to him.

And then he attacked. He closed the distance in between them and thrusted his sword deep within her stomach, he looked her in the eyes as he did, and he felt nothing. He felt nothing. He didn’t feel sorry, he didn’t feel joy, he didn’t feel anything as he drew his blade out, as the captain of Serpent fell on her knees, she hadn’t even tried to block Seungmin’s sword. She had killed him. She had killed Hyunjin. And now Seungmin had killed her.

Seungmin didn’t wait for her to bleed out, he let his blade slip from in between his bloody fingers on the ground. He could hear it clanking against the stoned ground as he turned away. Trembling. Shaking. She had killed Hyunjin. She had killed Hyunjin. Hyunjin was dead. Hyunjin… Hyunjin was dead.

Seungmin fell on his knees next to Hyunjin, his legs couldn’t carry him any longer. He pulled Hyunjin’s head on his lap, just like a few moments ago, just like a few moments ago when Hyunjin had been sleeping with his head on his lap. And he looked so peaceful now, too, he could have been sleeping just as fine now, if it wasn’t for the blood smeared on his cheeks.
“Hyunjin, I’m sorry”, Seungmin whimpered, gently swiping a few bloody strands of hair away from his face.
“I, I’m sorry, are you listening, Hyunjin? I’m sorry.”
The diamonds around them shone, mixed in with the dark blood, yet still Hyunjin remained as the most beautiful one. Like a flower in full bloom.
“I’m sorry, Hyunjin, I should have told you, I should have told you that I love you. I love you so much, so so much I don’t know how to put it into words. I love you. I do. I love you, are you listening? Do you hear me? I love you. With the siren, without it, it doesn’t matter, I love you. I, I should have told you sooner, I really should have. I love you. Always have. Always will. I love you so so much.” The choked-up cries left Seungmin’s lips in a haste, as if still trying to reach the half-siren.

But he got no answer.

He couldn’t… this couldn’t be happening. He had lost so much. And now he had lost again. He had lost Hyunjin again. Seungmin leaned forwards, pressed his lips against Hyunjin’s forehead, he was trembling, shaking with every sob that tore from his throat. He had done this once already, when letting go of the raft he had hauled Hyunjin on, and now he had to do it again.
“I love you, Hyunjin. I really love you”, he whispered for the last time, hugging the siren as close to him as possible as he let the tears fall. He had lost Hyunjin again. He had lost him again.

“Seungmin, hey”, Seungmin could feel Jeongin lightly touching his shoulder.
“Is he? No, nonono-“
“Felix, don’t go there, no-“
“Seungmin, you need to let go, let him go, Seungmin.” Jeongin’s voice seemed to sound from somewhere far away. Seungmin could feel another hand on his shoulder, pulling him away.
“No!” He refused, he didn’t want to let go, he couldn’t let go, no, he had just had the entire world and now Hyunjin was dead, he was dead, Seungmin had lost him again!
“Minho, is there anything-“
“No. I’m sorry.”
“Hyunjin! Hyunjin?!”
“Seungmin, let go. You need to let go. Just for a moment, please.” Jeongin pulled Seungmin’s shoulder a little stronger, and Seungmin didn’t have any strength in him to fight back. He let the mermaid pull him back, just enough for the others to… see Hyunjin.

“No, no no no!” He could hear Felix sobbing. He couldn’t tear his eyes away from Hyunjin, who was still sleeping so peacefully on his lap. Sleeping. So peacefully. God, he was still so gorgeous. Seungmin stroked his cheek with his thumb, just close enough to gently graze against the skin.
“Get Seungmin away from him! Get him-!” Seungmin could hear from somewhere far. Who was it? Yeonjun? Why would he-

And suddenly, as if lighting from the sky, Hyunjin’s eyes snapped open, flashing red, he gasped for air as he gripped Seungmin’s hand, claws digging through his skin. He tensed up, tried to get away as life returned to his body just as fast as it had left. He hissed at Seungmin, who couldn’t- he- what?
“Hyunjin?” Seungmin whimpered, voice shaky, he couldn’t- he couldn’t- what-
Hyunjin tilted his head, just a little as with his other hand he lunged for Seungmin’s throat, claws grazing against the already broken skin but stopped as he heard Seungmin’s voice. His brows furrowed, he was trying to reach for a memory that was somewhere close, yet so far.
“H-Hyunjin?” Seungmin couldn’t believe his eyes. He couldn’t, he couldn’t, Hyunjin, he had just died in his arms, he had just-

The grip on Seungmin’s hand loosened a little, the claws no longer piercing his skin and creating little crescent wounds. The blood red eyes focused on Seungmin, and suddenly the angry look from Hyunjin’s features washed away.
“S-Seungmin?” Hyunjin breathed out, the siren charms pulling Seungmin underwater once again.
“Hyunjin.” Seungmin wheezed out. He couldn’t believe this. He couldn’t- the siren. The siren charms. The healing. Sirens heal faster.
“H-Hyunjin?” Seungmin tried once more as Hyunjin suddenly rose up, latching himself around Seungmin’s neck and burying his face on his shoulder. It took a moment for Seungmin to wrap his arms around the siren, still trembling, still shaking. He was grounding himself, Seungmin realized. He was grounding himself on Seungmin.

And he was alive. Hyunjin was alive, he, he had died, but the siren in him, it had brought him back, it had brought him back! He was alive! Seungmin hadn’t, he hadn’t lost him! He hadn’t lost him again!

Seungmin pressed his forehead against Hyunjin’s shoulder and took a shaky breath. He could hear yelling from all around him, and he wasn’t entirely sure what kind, but he couldn’t really care to find out right now. Hyunjin was alive. He was alive. And Seungmin hadn’t lost him.

“Seungmin”, Hyunjin whimpered again, this time his voice lacked the power, it lacked the siren song. Seungmin took hold of his shoulders and for the second time today, lifted his head from his shoulder. He watched as the red in his eyes returned to the gentle brown, as the siren song in him let finally go.
“I thought I lost you”, Seungmin whispered as Hyunjin reached for his face with his hands, wiping tears off of his cheeks.
“I’m sorry, I… I didn’t realize…”
But Seungmin only shook his head before pressing his lips against Hyunjin’s. His lips tasted like blood and tears, but they were soft and answered to the kiss as Seungmin held him close. He had thought he had lost Hyunjin. He had thought he had lost him for the second time in his life, so right now he tried to pour all of his love into that kiss, before the others would pull Hyunjin away from him. As Hyunjin was the first one to break the kiss to gasp for air, Seungmin didn’t let him get far:
“I love you, Hyunjin”, he confessed, this time to the alive half-siren. “I really love you.”

***

It took them a week to clean up the place and collect all the gemstones they could get from the area. Everyone got their fair share, which meant at least one barrel full of diamonds of different sizes, along with some gold nuggets they found from the deeper parts of the stream. They couldn’t get all the blood away from the ground, of course, but they did bury the bodies of the crew of Serpent, at least the ones they could. Half of the crew had run away and got back to their ship that had been anchored on the other side of the island, just out of sight. The river washed away most of the red, but hues of it remained on the riverbanks. There would be rumors. A lot of them, they all knew it.

It took Hyunjin three days to heal properly. Seungmin didn’t leave his side during those three days, Chan gave him a pass from his daily duties as Luisa was perfectly capable of handling the kitchen on her own. It had taken a moment for them to get Hyunjin back to the ship after the incident, he had kept flickering in and out of consciousness during their journey and the crew had had to carry him, and then and they had had to wait for a boat to get them from their ship. When they had finally reached the ship, the crew that had been waiting for them had looked horrified to their very cores, they had had no idea something was happening on the island, they had heard nothing. After three days Hyunjin could finally stand up without pain, the first two days of the healing process had been just sleeping as he apparently felt incredibly tired. Jeongin guessed it was the siren’s healing thing, even if he was healing fast, the healing needed a lot of energy, all the time, and therefore Hyunjin slept most of the days, only awoke to eat and drink, and then he fell asleep again. And Seungmin let him. Of course he let him.

There was a long, yet not very deep cut on Seungmin’s throat, as well as a few crescent-shaped wounds on the back of his hand. Jeongin forced Seungmin to wear a gauze around his throat at all times, twice a day he put some sort of salve on the wounds to make them heal better. Seungmin felt like he was in some sort of a haze himself. He had lost, but not really. Hyunjin hadn’t died. Seungmin still had somewhat of a hard time understanding what had happened.

The captain of the Serpent had been the Dutch merchant ship’s captain’s sister, that was evident now, and she had wanted to take revenge on Hyunjin. It hadn’t gone very well, she clearly hadn’t prepared for Hyunjin to sing, or she didn’t believe it would affect her. Or any of her crew. Or she had thought Hyunjin’s own crew wouldn’t be ready to defend him. Well, she had been wrong, oh, so wrong, because if the entirety of the crew had had any doubts of Hyunjin before, then those doubts were far gone by now.

How had the crew found them? Most likely with the quartermaster of the Kraken. The only chance was that they had been following them, maybe they had some sort of witchy business, too, and had been able to follow them. There was no way anyone from their own crew would have betrayed them, at least Minho didn’t believe so. And the crew themselves hadn’t even known their headings until after leaving the land, so there was really no way they could have told anyone where they were going.

On fourth day, as Hyunjin had finally awoken properly and was ready to move and full of energy, Seungmin and Hyunjin visited the waterfall where the bloodbath had taken place to help the others collect the diamonds. Hyunjin had simply stared at the place, then at his hands, then at the place again, and it had wrenched Seungmin’s insides in ways he couldn’t put into words. Hyunjin didn’t deserve this, any of this, why did the world decide to put him through so much? But Seungmin didn’t know what to say, so he only held Hyunjin’s hand. And kept holding it, all the time, because if he had been cautious before, then he was even worse now, jumping at every single sound that was a little out of place.

According to Yeonjun, it had been surprising that Hyunjin hadn’t shredded Seungmin to pieces after he had woken up as the siren song in him had still been strong and in control. He had guessed Hyunjin would survive, of course, he knew more about the whole siren thing than the rest of them, and since Hyunjin had got a lot more comfortable with his siren song, it was easier for him to heal. Apparently, if the sword would have pierced through his heart, then he wouldn’t have come back. Nor if the captain of Serpent had beheaded him. And Seungmin did not want to think about that.

But he did want to think about how Hyunjin and the siren song were now comfortable with him. How the siren recognized Seungmin as not a threat, never a threat, not even in situations where Hyunjin’s life had been threatened. That something, it settled into Seungmin’s heart and calmed it a little. Hyunjin and his siren considered Seungmin as safe, and that was enough for Seungmin.

The atmosphere on the ship, especially between the eight of them, was a little careful at first, all of them had got scared to their very cores, and especially Felix and Jisung had been devastated for the first few days, constantly checking up on Hyunjin. Jeongin was more looking out for Seungmin than Hyunjin as he was certain Hyunjin would survive and do just fine after he’d wake up, but Seungmin needed a little more than that, so Jeongin held his hand through the first night, just to ease the shock a little. And Seungmin still wasn’t sure if he was over the shock. He couldn’t… he just couldn’t process that he had nearly lost Hyunjin, had lost him for a moment, but then Hyunjin had come back. And Seungmin hadn’t lost him.

But the days passed and as they weighed anchors from the coast of the island, the atmosphere had returned mostly back to normal. Mostly, as in, everyone else had got over the initial shock as they saw Hyunjin climbing up and down the masts along with the rest of the crew, as if nothing had ever happened to him. Seungmin hadn’t. He was still cautious. He had had nightmares every single night after the incident of Hyunjin’s stomach being pierced by the steely blade. He could still smell it, the blood, mixing in with the sweetness of the flowers on the clearing. He could still hear it, the echo of the waterfall and his own cries as he held Hyunjin’s lifeless body close to him. But they were only nightmares, and every morning Seungmin woke up to Hyunjin clutching his shirt, head buried against his neck, sleeping peacefully, and Seungmin had to do everything to get the mental image out of his head of Hyunjin looking so peaceful, even in death.

There was a feast, of course, a feat of victory as they had defeated the crew of Serpent and found the lost treasure of Flor de la Mar. The crew couldn’t wait to get to spend their diamonds, Chan was already planning on buying new sails for the ship and investing in some new cannons that were more powerful than their old ones. The feast itself was delightful, it was happy, filled with laughter after the tough week, and maybe Seungmin, too, felt comfortable for the first time ever since the accident, surrounded by his dearest friends, Hyunjin next to him. It was relieving. Calming. Even Hyunjin seemed more comfortable again, even if Seungmin knew he’d return to his shell after they would be left alone.

Which was why after cleaning up the mess the crew had left after themselves on the feast, instead of heading for his and Hyunjin’s quarters, Seungmin headed out. He had seen Hyunjin leaving with Jeongin and hadn’t seen him return, so he was still most likely outside as everyone else was going to sleep. And as he had guessed, he found a familiar silhouette standing on the forecastle deck, leaning against the railing of the ship, alone. There was no one else on the deck as they had dropped anchors on a peaceful bay, away from any other people. The sky was cloudless, full moon shone down on them and bathed everything in silvery light, drawing long shadows on the decks of Calliope.

And Hyunjin looked breathtaking in it.

“Hey”, Seungmin mumbled as he circled next to Hyunjin, their shoulders brushing together.
“Hey”, Hyunjin breathed out, he was staring out of the bay at the calm waves of the sea. From behind them, Seungmin could hear the waves rippling against the cliffs on the shore.
“Did you like the feast?” Seungmin asked, just to open the conversation and get Hyunjin back to present from his head.
“Of course, I like everything made by you.”
Seungmin snorted lightly as he wrapped his arm around Hyunjin, pulling him a little closer.
“How are you feeling?” he asked. Hyunjin shrugged, finally turned his gaze from the sea to Seungmin.
“I’m… I’m alright. It’s just… weird. I don’t know. It’s hard to process what happened. And I’m just… I don’t know. Scared. How many others will be looking for me? I don’t want our crew to suffer because of me.”
Seungmin shook his head lightly. “No one’s suffering because of you. And I’m pretty certain that even if there will be rumors, no one’s stupid enough to start confronting you about it. Or us. You have our back, you know? You’re as much a part of the crew as anyone else.”

Hyunjin simply nodded, Seungmin knew he didn’t have it in him to start arguing about it.
“Are the wounds alright?” Seungmin then asked, even if he damn well knew the answer.
“You asked that this morning. They’re gone. There’s only a small scar on my back, and I think it will stay there. Nothing hurts. Nothing feels out of place”, Hyunjin mumbled, a light smile tugging the corner of his mouth.
“I’m just worried. You really scared me”, Seungmin pouted in turn.
“I know. Sorry.”
“How did it… feel? The… you know.” Seungmin wanted to know. And at the same time, not. But he still decided to ask.
“Just… the last thing I remember is your arms, I felt like falling underwater. And then I was pulled from underwater and the siren in me was screaming to kill everything in sight. But it was you in my sight and… then it stopped screaming.”
Seungmin nodded. Seungmin knew Hyunjin knew what had happened in between, that there had been more time. Jeongin had told him Seungmin had killed the captain since Seungmin had refused to talk about the entire thing for the past few days. He still wasn’t… It was hard to process. But he knew he’d have to do it.

“Were you in control?” Seungmin then asked, he could feel Hyunjin tensing in his arms.
“For… a while. There were some parts when I blacked out, but then you… came into view and I could get hold of myself again. At least…sort of.” Hold of myself, as in, not kill Seungmin but everyone else. Seungmin nodded. Then he suddenly felt very overwhelmed with all kinds of emotions, so he pressed his head against Hyunjin’s shoulder, closed his eyes for a moment. He felt Hyunjin wrapping his arms around him, holding him close in turn.

“I’m just… I don’t know, the words the captain of Serpent said and… I just keep repeating it in my head. I killed her brother, I killed most of her crew. Maybe I really am a monster.”
Seungmin lifted his head from Hyunjin’s shoulder, almost horrified.
“No, Hyunjin, you are not a monster. You were protecting yourself.”
“Is it really protecting if I alone kill most of her crew? I could have run.”
“We were surrounded.”
“I could have-“
“No, Hyunjin, you couldn’t have. She was here to kill you, so was the rest of her crew. You were their only target. You did what you could at that moment, and that was to protect yourself.”
Seungmin gently stroked Hyunjin’s cheeks, searched for his gaze. He couldn’t- gods, he just wanted Hyunjin to see his own worth! He wanted him to forget the words the captain of Serpent had said. He wasn’t a monster.
“You’re not a monster for protecting yourself. You’re not a monster for taking revenge, either.”

Hyunjin’s lower lip quivered, just a little, his eyes sparkled like the stars in the sky.
“You’re not a monster. Not to me. Not to anyone in the crew. Not to us.”
“It’s just sometimes hard to believe”, Hyunjin whispered as one lone tear rolled down his cheek. Seungmin kissed it away.
“It’s hard to believe, because you don’t believe it yourself”, Seungmin mumbled. “The siren in you doesn’t make you a monster, Hyunjin. You’re not a monster for protecting yourself. Please believe that.”
Hyunjin sniffled, just a little as Seungmin pulled him into a tight hug. They still had a long way to go. Hyunjin still had a long way to go, even if he had started to accept, get accustomed to his siren song. Seungmin was pretty certain that the day Hyunjin could survive from a battle with the siren song and remain fully in control and conscious would be the day he’d finally truly accept it, but that was still way ahead of them. Hyunjin trembled, just a little and Seungmin stroked his back, let him cry against his shoulder.

Then he felt it. This was the moment. He had to do it now, he wasn’t sure… he wasn’t sure if Hyunjin had heard him the last time.
“Hyunjin”, Seungmin mumbled as he pulled away from the hug, just a little. Hyunjin wiped a few tears off of his face, sniffled before wrapping his arms around Seungmin’s neck.
“There’s… there’s something I need to tell you. I don’t… I don’t think you heard me properly last time.”
“What?” Hyunjin muttered, eyes still a little glossy.

“I love you”, Seungmin blurted out, and Hyunjin looked nearly shocked for a brief moment. “I love you. That’s… that’s what I had to tell you. What I told you when you were… gone. I love you. I love you as a siren. I love you as a pirate. I love you as you. And I love you as my soulmate.”
“Seungmin…” Hyunjin whimpered, yet another tear rolling down his cheek. “I-“, he hesitated for a brief moment, Seungmin could see how he searched for words, trying to not get too overwhelmed, “I love you too. So, so so much.”

And for some reason, it all made Seungmin feel like he was about to burst from all of the overwhelming sensations of that love. Gods, he really loved Hyunjin, really, really, really loved him, so so so much it made the entire world turn around him. Seungmin wasn’t sure which one of them leaned first into the kiss, he or Hyunjin, but what he did know was that he was smiling into it, his entire being suddenly filled with Hyunjin. He could feel Hyunjin shaking, just a little, he knew the boy was probably crying, and then he realized that he was, too. The kiss was sweet, it was soft, gentle, it sent sparks down Seungmin’s spine and made his head spin. Hyunjin tasted familiar, so comfortable, he tasted like home, and it all felt so overwhelming Seungmin couldn’t help but cry into the kiss. As they finally parted for air, Hyunjin pressed his forehead against Seungmin’s and Seungmin kept his eyes closed, simply staying in the moment for a while longer.
“I love you so much, Seungmin”, Hyunjin whispered, tightening the hug, just a little.
“I love you too, Hyunjin. So, so much.”

“We should probably head back to our room”, Hyunjin mumbled as he pulled back after a moment of shared silence. Seungmin opened his eyes, just to press a small peck on Hyunjin’s lips:
“We should. Who knows, Changbin may have a new heading for us first thing tomorrow morning.”