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Hongjoong saw the ropes before he saw the siren.
A tangle of old netting, leading to the underneath of a dock, shifting two and fro, something stuck inside. Hongjoong had seen it plenty of times, dolphins, turtles, occasionally even a whale would get caught and beached. Normally, he wasn’t able to reach the animal in time to free it before people were killing it for its meat or resources.
This time though… it seemed he was the first on the scene. It was the middle of the night, the only light being the full moon above them.
And Hongjoong had a chance to save an animal. Give back to the ocean after it gifted him his first mate.
“Hongjoong?” Seonghwa said, confused, looking behind him, noticing that Hongjoong had stopped. Hongjoong shushed him softly.
“I think an animal beached. Probably a dolphin,” he said, and Seonghwa nodded, crossing over to the other side of the dock, getting ready to corral the animal, or perhaps to grab its tail if it began to thrash.
Hongjoong crept forward, and then peered under the dock.
A pair of eyes looked back at him, far too close together to be a dolphin or any type of animal he had seen before.
Far too intelligent to be anything other than humanoid.
He lurched back, and so did the creature, spinning, the net sliding off the shore and into the water as it struggled. Seonghwa’s hand reached for it and it twisted sharply, trying to get out from under the other side, away from Hongjoong, but it only made the water darken with blood around them, the net cutting deeper.
“Hey, hey, I don’t want to hurt you. I don’t know what you are, but no harm will come to you from me,” he promised, and the creature eyed him, eyes illuminated just slightly, shining from under the dock. “I’m going to go towards the net, okay? And I’m going to cut you free.”
The creature didn’t swim towards him, didn’t seem all that friendly either, but it also didn’t begin thrashing as Hongjoong knelt down into the water, trying to feel for where the creature was stuck, running his hand along the pole, fingers hitting rope, and then smooth scales.
When his fingertips brushed the tail of the creature, it twitched, still unable to move, but clearly unhappy. Hongjoong quickly retracted his hand.
“I’ll try not to touch it, but I may have to, if I want to get you free,” he said. The creature didn’t respond, so Hongjoong slowly reached in again, pulling out his knife from his hip. He made eye contact with the creature. “Try not to move. I’ll be as careful as I can be,” he promised.
And with that, his hand plunged under the water, feeling along and slowly, methodically slicing through all the ropes he came across that weren’t directly connected to it’s tail, hoping that it would be able to get itself free.
“Try that?” he asked when he had sliced through the last one, and the creature shifted its tail away from the post, diving under the water without a trace.
Hongjoong let out a breath of relief.
“What was that?” Seonghwa asked, the first words he had spoken during the entire ordeal.
“I’ll be honest. I’m not sure. It had eyes like you and me though,” he offered, and Seonghwa wet his lips.
“You think it was a siren?”
“I don’t know. And I don’t think I want to know. I’d rather leave that as a mystery and never think about it again,” Hongjoong admitted honestly, and his first mate nodded.
“Come on, let’s get back to the ship. I think we should leave,” Seonghwa said, and Hongjoong hummed, glancing out at the ocean for a moment, wondering if the creature would poke its head up.
The next time he saw the siren, it was when he had fallen overboard.
They’d been pulling maneuvers out of their ass, racing all over the ship, tugging ropes and swinging sails, trying to keep their ship a float as the storm buffeted them. Seonghwa and Hongjoong were both soaked, slipping across the deck if they moved too quickly.
And Hongjoong fell overboard.
He didn’t even remember exactly what had happened. Just that he was on the ship at one point, then he was sliding, and the next he was losing his balance and toppling over.
Distantly, as he fell he heard Seonghwa shout for him, but he’d hit the water regardless, the cold sinking into his bones. He blinked, trying to figure out which way was up. He hadn’t had time to get a proper breath in, this wasn’t going to hold him over long, but there was a layer of confusion settling over Hongjoong, trying to see through the ocean, look around, orient himself.
Before he spotted the surface, he spotted a streak of red in the ocean.
For a moment, he thought he was bleeding, but when he focused on himself for a moment, nothing was stinging with the pain of an open wound. His lungs were beginning to burn, but there was nothing with him that could’ve caused that brilliant red he had spotted.
He looked around again, and then there were hands on him. Hongjoong squirmed, trying to swim away from whatever was trying to grab him, but they were too strong, quickly propelling them along through what, creating bubbles as they moved.
They broke the surface and Hongjoong inhaled quickly, and coughed, lungs soothed slightly by the fresh air.
The waves were still casting them about, but Hongjoong was able to breathe, and he was being held aloft by something strong.
Something strong that was now bringing them closer to the boat.
The boat that was still being rocked violently by the waves.
Lightning illuminated the ship just slightly, and Hongjoong saw Seonghwa’s silhouette on the deck, obviously looking for him.
“Seonghwa- can you- please,” Hongjoong said, trying to speak over the storm. The creature moved faster, bringing them closer to the ship just as a ladder cascaded over the side.
The creature pulled the ladder down, a hand reaching over Hongjoong’s shoulder, the lightning reflecting against red scales that coated its hand and forearm.
Hongjoong reached for it, grabbing a hold and beginning to climb, the creature’s other hand helping hold him steady until Hongjoong was out of reach.
When he reached the top, Seonghwa was waiting, grabbing at his arm and tugging him onto the deck.
Hongjoong looked back over the side, wondering briefly if he’d spot his savior, but all he saw was the darkness of the ocean.
“You’re alive. Thank you, thank you,” Seonghwa said, grabbing at Hongjoong and hugging him tightly. They were still getting pelted with rain, the brisk wind making both of them shiver, but Hongjoong embraced Seonghwa just as tightly as he embraced Hongjoong, the two just relishing in the fact that they were both alive.
“Let’s get inside. I secured the ship as best as I could,” Seonghwa said into Hongjoong’s ear, voice barely heard over the crashing waves.
The two stood up together, supporting each other as they raced to get below deck, the two breathing heavily as soon as they were out of the storm.
“You’re alive. You’re alive,” Seonghwa said softly, squeezing Hongjoong’s hand.
“I’m alive,” he said quietly.
“How? I saw you go over… you didn’t come up for so long,” he said, and Hongjoong looked towards the ceiling.
“Remember the siren we saved?”
“Yeah? Though we never confirmed that it was a siren,” Seonghwa said, and Hongjoong shot him a look.
“I know what I saw, it was a siren. And I just saw the same siren underwater. He saved me.”
“Hongjoong…” Seonghwa said softly, and Hongjoong shook his head.
“I know what you’re going to say,” Hongjoong started.
“I don’t think you do.”
“What?”
“It’s highly unlikely that you saw the same siren-”
“That’s what I thought you’d say,” Hongjoong said, and Seonghwa shot him a look.
“If you’d let me finish?” he said, and Hongjoong’s mouth shut with a slight click. “Thank you. It’s highly unlikely that you saw the same siren, however, it could mean that the siren is following us to some extent. Maybe it’s intrigued by us,” Seonghwa said, and Hongjoong hummed.
“I hope so.”
“Why?”
“I just… I’d like to get to see it again. It’s not often you see things from legend,” he said, and Seonghwa let out something like a fond sigh.
“True,” Seonghwa said. They sat down together, leaning against each other and the closed door behind them, a moment of silence echoing around them.
“Did you see it?” Hongjoong asked quietly.
“I don’t know what I saw.”
“Tell me?”
“It was only brief. Just a flash of lightning. But there was something behind you. Something that did not board the ship with you,” he said.
“Did you see what it looked like?”
“No. Just a figure. A head behind you.”
“I see.”
“There’s still a possibility that we might see it again,” Seonghwa tried, placing a gentle hand on Hongjoong’s back. He nodded.
“I suppose, yes.”
“For now, we just need to focus on getting out of this storm intact and alive. We’ll bunker down here until the worst passes and then go out and fix what needs to be fixed, okay?” Seonghwa said, and Hongjoong nodded again, the fall catching up to him, exhaustion pulling him to Seonghwa’s shoulder like a magnet. “Rest,” the older said gently.
And so he did.
When he woke up, he was in his bed, the ship rocking softly as though it were trying to lull him back to sleep.
However, light was streaming in through the porthole, and Hongjoong realized there was a strong likelihood that he’d been sleeping for too long.
He sat up, already tired, lungs and muscles aching. But he stood, grabbing his coat to toss over his shoulders and slipped out of the room. Seonghwa was staring at something in the distance through the spyglass, looking oddly concerned, and immediately Hongjoong was on edge.
“What’s going on?” Hongjoong asked, and Seonghwa glanced at him.
“A fishing vessel. About a mile off,” Seonghwa said, passing the spyglass to Hongjoong, and he looked through, quickly finding the same ship.
“We’ll pull up next to them, see if we can trade some gold for some fresh fish,” Hongjoong said, and Seonghwa nodded, moving up the steps to the helm to steer them towards the ship.
As they got closer, they both noticed some kind of commotion on deck, and Seonghwa reached for the spyglass again.
“That’s-” Seonghwa said quietly, lowering the spyglass, only to do a double take and raise it again.
“What? What is it?”
“They’ve got something huge in their nets,” Seonghwa said, passing the spyglass to him.
“What?” he said confused, and looked through.
Seonghwa was right. It was huge, five different men trying to raise the net up, a sixth on the way. The creature broke the surface, and Hongjoong caught the slightest glimpse of shining red scales.
“It’s-” he started, still watching through the glass.
“What is it? Are we interfering?” Seonghwa asked, and Hongjoong could only smile slightly, because of course Seonghwa knew him that well. “Yes. Bring us up beside them. We’re freeing the creature.”
“Do you think…?” Seonghwa started trailing off. Hongjoong nodded grimly.
“It has to be,” he said, and Seonghwa moved quickly, skipping steps to begin turning them, bringing them as close as they dared.
Meanwhile, Hongjoong was loosening some rope, hopping over the railing to lower himself low enough to cut the net free. (Seonghwa was not happy, yelling his name twice before he finally gave up and Hongjoong knew he was going to get an earful whenever they were done).
The fisherman had almost gotten it into the boat, crying out in fear or in awe when they noticed Hongjoong leaning against his boat as Seonghwa swung up beside them, sword swinging down against the net, the red finned creature splashing back into the sea.
Hongjoong climbed back aboard with a smile on his face, the sun warm against his skin and the air cool as Seonghwa pulled the ship away from the fishing vessel as quickly as he could.
“I feel good about that,” Hongjoong said, and Seonghwa nodded.
“Do you think we’ll see it again?” he asked, and Hongjoong was silent for a long moment.
“I-” he started, but Seonghwa put a hand up to quiet him.
“Do you hear that?” he said. Hongjoong strained his ears, the only sound he could hear was the waves hitting the hull of their ship.
“No, what do you hear?” he asked quietly, and Seonghwa pursed his lips.
“A scratching noise? Of sorts?” he said, and Hongjoong hummed.
“That’s odd. Maybe it was the sails?”
“Maybe,” Seonghwa said.
A red scaled hand reached up and over the railing.
“Or that,” Hongjoong said, rushing forward, drawing his sword as Seonghwa drew his pistol, watching the creature heft itself up and up until it made eye contact with them, still dangling on the side of the boat.
“If you try to kill me I’m going to hop down and no one will believe you,” it said, and Hongjoong swallowed roughly, and then sheathed his sword.
“Seonghwa,” he said, and Seonghwa shot him a look, glancing between the creature and Hongjoong.
“Seriously-”
“Seonghwa. Please, it saved my life,” Hongjoong said, and Seonghwa let out a long suffering sigh before slipping the gun back into its holster. The siren looked at them for another long moment and then flipped over the rail, settling itself on shaky legs.
“Do you want me to wear pants?” it asked, and Hongjoong nodded.
“Seonghwa, go find him some pants.”
“Alright,” he said, and disappeared down into the belly of the ship.
“You’re… you’re human?” Hongjoong asked, and the siren rolled his eyes.
“No. I’m a siren. Magical sea creature. We can do what we want to an extent.”
“How come you got trapped then?”
“It takes a while for the water to drip off. We can only transform when we’re dry enough,” he explained simply, and Hongjoong nodded.
“Pants,” Seonghwa said, lightly chucking them in the direction of the siren, who promptly slipped them on.
“What are you doing on my ship?” Hongjoong asked.
“We have business,” the siren said, rolling out his shoulders a little. His very muscular shoulders that Hongjoong was a little afraid of. There was a bit of blood slipping down one, still a little watery.
“We have business?”
“You saved my life,” the siren said. “Again.”
“I suppose so,” Hongjoong said. The siren tilted his head a little, examining Hongjoong.
“You saved my life. Then I saved yours. And you saved mine again. Are you trying to stick me with a life debt?” he asked.
“A life debt? No! I just wanted to help you.”
“Nobody just wants to help someone. Everyone wants something,” the siren said.
“I don’t want anything,” Hongjoong said, trying to convince him.
“Everybody wants something,” he repeated and Hongjoong let out a long sigh.
“I don’t know what it would take for me to convince you, but I don’t want you to have a life debt. I just wanted to make sure you were okay,” Hongjoong said, and the siren shook his head quickly.
“Leave me alone,” the siren said, and moved to hop off the side of the ship.
“Wait!” Seonghwa said quickly, and the siren paused, much to Hongjoong’s surprise.
“What.”
“At least let us treat your injury? These waters have plenty of sharks, I don’t want you getting injured,” Seonghwa said, and the siren glanced from Seonghwa, to the water, to Hongjoong, and then back to the water.
“Fine,” he said, and Seonghwa smiled slightly, moving to grab their first aid kit.
“May I have your name?” Seonghwa asked quietly, and the siren looked around, glancing at the ship and then staring resolutely at the open ocean.
“Jongho,” he said.
“Thank you,” Seonghwa said. “I’m going to be cleaning the scratch. It’ll sting,” he warned.
“Like a jellyfish?” Jongho asked.
“Yeah. Similar,” Seonghwa said.
“Okay,” Jongho said quietly. Seonghwa pulled the alcohol from the kit and began gently dabbing at the cut with a cloth, trying his best to clean it.
“Thank you for trusting us,” Seonghwa said, and Jongho looked at him, seeming almost curious.
“You’ve saved my life,” he said, as though it was obvious.
“Still. You have no real reason to trust us, we’re still humans.”
“I could end your life faster than you could draw your gun, I have no reason to fear two humans.”
“I see,” Seonghwa said, and pulled out the gauze and tape to place over the shallow cut.
“Thank you for healing me,” Jongho said quietly, and Seonghwa nodded, and for a second, Hongjoong felt like he was intruding on what should’ve been a private moment.
Then he saw Seonghwa’s gaze, no longer looking at the injury or Jongho, instead out at the ocean. He pulled the spy glass from his bag and peered through it.
“What’s wrong?” Hongjoong asked, and Seonghwa shot him a grim look.
“You remember that ship we had that little scuffle with?” Seonghwa asked, and Hongjoong nodded.
“Looks like they’re about an hour away,” he said, and Hongjoong took the spyglass from his hand, bringing it up to look.
“Can we outrun it?” he asked.
“I don’t think so,” Seonghwa said. “At least, not with the wind blowing the way it is right now.”
“So we’ll have to fight.”
“Joong, we can’t possibly.”
“We don’t have any other options.”
“You should get off the ship,” Seonghwa said, turning to Jongho, who stared at them, seemingly confused.
“Why?”
“Because if they get their hands on you, you’re going to be killed or put on the black market. Or both. We don’t want anything to happen to you,” Hongjoong explained quickly.
“Why haven’t you killed me or put me on your black market?” Jongho asked, still seeming confused. Hongjoong glanced at the ship that was still rapidly closing in.
“Because we’re not awful people,” Seonghwa answered instead.
“You just finished fixing me,” Jongho said quietly.
“If you don’t want to get off the ship then you’ll go below deck,” Hongjoong bargained, and Jongho nodded.
“Come. Seonghwa, keep them as far away as you can for as long as you can.”
“It doesn’t look like they have functioning cannons.”
“Small mercies,” Hongjoong said, and then began leading Jongho deep into the belly of the ship.
“Stay here until either Seonghwa or I come down to get you. And if someone else comes down, you’re going to climb through this port hole back into the ocean, okay?” Hongjoong said, and Jongho nodded.
“Okay.”
“Okay,” Hongjoong said, and raced back up to the deck.
“How much time do we have?” Hongjoong called.
“The winds are blowing against us and they’re gaining rapidly, call it thirty minutes, tops!” Seonghwa called back. The other crew, a small army of black hats and coats, were obviously getting ready.
A gunshot whizzed past Hongjoong’s ear. He ducked afterwards, crouching down to avoid the barrage of bullets.
“They’re boarding!” Seonghwa yelled from the helm, still trying to steer the ship out of reach as the planks thudded down and the thunder of feet came across. Hongjoong drew his sword, swinging for the first.
And so began the bloodbath.
Seonghwa abandoned the helm, drawing his own sword, racing into the fray.
The captain of the other ship met eyes with Hongjoong and stalked forward.
Hongjoong swallowed roughly, and the two began to battle.
Hongjoong felt evenly matched. Seonghwa was fending off some members of the crew, bloody bodies strewn across the deck for Hongjoong to move around and over all while parrying the captain’s blade.
Not well enough, however, and he stumbled over one of the bodies. The captain swung his blade down, finding the opening in Hongjoong’s defense, and Hongjoong closed his eyes, wincing in preparation for the pain it would bring, when instead there was a dull sound instead.
Hongjoong opened his eyes, only to see someone standing in front of him, blocking the blade with his forearm.
His forearm that was covered in dark red scales.
Jongho stood in front of him, the sword glancing off the gleaming scales. There was a sound coming out of his throat, something guttural, like a growl and a hiss mixed together, and then he surged forward, the other captain caught off guard, scrambling away from Jongho.
“Hell beast!” the man yelled, the first Hongjoong had heard from him.
“Retreat?” his first mate called.
“Retreat!” the captain said, and the crew quickly scrambled back over the planks.
They were gone so quickly Hongjoong was still on the deck when the last board was lifted from their ship, the other vessel pulling away.
“What was that?” Seonghwa said quietly, offering a hand to Hongjoong.
“I’m not sure. It felt oddly unprompted,” he said, and Seonghwa nodded.
“That whole attack was weird.”
“Agreed.”
Hongjoong turned to Jongho, who was still just standing, watching their exchange.
“Humans don’t attack each other like that?” he asked.
“Generally no, not without prompting,” Seonghwa explained patiently.
“Are you okay?” Hongjoong asked, and Jongho stared at Hongjoong for a long moment.
“The life debt is paid,” he said, and Hongjoong shook his head.
“I don’t care about that, I just want to know if you’re injured in any way,” he said, and he blinked.
“I’m confused,” Jongho said.
“Are you hurt?” Hongjoong asked.
“I’m not? Why are you concerned?” he asked.
“Because… because I care? I don’t know how else to explain it.”
“Humans only care about themselves though.”
“I don’t. I care about you. And I care about Seonghwa too,” Hongjoong tried, but Jongho just shook his head.
“Nope, humans are all the same.”
“Captain? If I may have a moment,” Seonghwa said gently, and Hongjoong nodded, gesturing his forward.
“Take your best shot,” he said, and then Seonghwa gave him a look. “What?”
“A moment alone?” he said, and Hongjoong sighed.
“Yeah, that’s fair. Okay,” he said and moved just slightly below deck, listening closely.
Maybe he should’ve just let Seonghwa and Jongho be, but he wanted to know. He was curious what Seonghwa had to say that would change his mind.
There was a moment of silence as the two waited for Hongjoong to go downstairs.
“Hongjoong saved me too,” Seonghwa said finally, his voice soft.
“You’re… like me?” he asked, and Seonghwa huffed out a little laugh.
“No, not really. But I was landbound for a long while. I was cursed. Or I suppose blessed, depending on who you ask. Hongjoong was the only one who was able to get me on a boat,” he said.
“What did he want?” Jongho asked.
“Only for me to be his quartermaster. First mate. Nothing else,” Seonghwa said.
“So he wants me to join his crew?” Jongho asked and Seonghwa hummed.
“Only if you also want to. But you are different from us. We understand if you’re unable to stay. Hongjoong wouldn’t want you to stay if it would injure you, or be uncomfortable for you. We value your company though, and we’ve both grown… almost fond of you,” he explained, and Jongho tilted his head slightly.
“Fond?”
“Yes. We care about you.”
“My pod didn’t care about me.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I was different and they didn’t like me,” Jongho said, and Seonghwa was silent, waiting to see if Jongho would continue. “If… if I was different, and my pod rejected me, how come I’m different and you like me?”
“We’re all different, in our own ways. That’s part of the reason Hongjoong and I are pirates. It’s freedom. To be who we want, do whatever we want.”
“I want that,” Jongho said quietly, to the point where Hongjoong was barely able to hear him.
“We’ll welcome you with open arms,” Seonghwa said.
“What will I do? I have no training,” Jongho asked.
“We’ll train you to do whatever you desire.”
“I’d like that.”
Hongjoong slipped further down the hall, heading into the belly of the ship, something warm blooming in his chest.
Jongho would join their ranks.
They’d have a siren with them. Part of Hongjoong was absolutely giddy, though he’d never admit that to Jongho.
He was on his way to having an actual crew again. A group of people he could rely on again. He swallowed, quickly trying to distract himself with organizing the hold. They’d be at a new port soon enough, and he wanted to make sure they had enough room for extra supplies… it wouldn’t just be him and Seonghwa any more. There’d be another mouth to feed.
“Hongjoong,” Jongho said from behind him, practically startling Hongjoong out of his skin. (He also made an undignified yelping noise, but that was beside the point). He hadn’t even heard the younger come down the stairs. The incredibly creaky stairs that Hongjoong hadn’t fixed because they’d wake him if anyone tried to board the ship while he was asleep.
“Yes Jongho?” he asked after a long moment of waiting for his heart to fall back into his chest.
“I would like to join your crew.”
“Okay. Do you have an idea of what you’d like to do?” he asked, and Jongho nodded.
“I’d like to use all the weapons and cannons.”
“We can do that,” Hongjoong said, beaming, offering a hand out to him. Instead of taking it though, Jongho stared at it for a long moment, perplexed.
“What am I supposed to do?” he asked.
“We shake hands. It’s like… an affirmative motion,” Hongjoong said, and Jongho hummed softly, before taking his hand.
“Like this?”
“Welcome to our crew, Jongho.”