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The sun stood high in the sky as the Destiny cut through the gentle waves, it was almost blinding. The captain stood at the railing watching the water as they went, clear, so clear he could see fish and other creatures pass by underneath them. The wind was gentle on his face for once, one would not guess they had almost been capsized by it just the night before.
“Captain?” One of his sailors called for him, eliciting a sigh as he turned away from the beauty of nature around them. It was Jongho, his boatswain. “She’s all fixed up, the storm didn’t do too much damage, but we should pull into the next port to gather more supplies.” Hongjoong nodded along. “Yunho says there might be another storm ahead.”
“Ready her for more possible rough seas and make sure there are at least three sailors on top deck throughout the night.” Hongjoong turned his face up toward the sky, facing the sun, eyes falling shut. “We won’t have her protection while she slumbers.” He turned to flip a coin of silver into the ocean to appease the gods who listen and watch and took a step towards Jongho. “Send some off to rest now, send Yunho and Jeong to my quarters.”
“Aye, captain,” he responded, monotone, before he turned to find his first mate. Hongjoong, meanwhile, walked leisurely to his quarters. They’d have to map the route to the nearest port, they should not be too far off, really. They had been heading in that direction already. A long time on the open seas had made them all a tad weary and the crew deserved a break. Maybe the next port could bring them just that.
It did not take long for Yunho to knock and enter. Hongjoong had just discarded his overcoat and pushed back the too wide sleeves of his shirt.
“Captain, you asked for me,” his first mate strode in, confident in his long gait. Another knock and Jeong entered, head lowered briefly in respect.
“Excellent, you’re both here,” Hongjoong started. “We should map our journey to the next port.” They nodded and took a seat at the big wooden table scattered with maps and pens and contraptions only Jeong knew every use of.
They didn’t leave his quarters for several hours, Jeong doing calculations and mapping, Yunho chiming in every now and then for insight and Hongjoong mostly observing with a heart full of pride that his crew worked so well together. Life on the open ocean was not easy, dangers lurked everywhere, creatures of the depth or men of land ready to plunder and kill, the weather turning against them, on top of their own bodies turning against them or being too weak. Luckily, they hadn’t lost anyone yet on this journey, though this only served to make the hairs in Hongjoong’s neck stand electrified with suspense, made his palms sweaty, his gaze skittish. Only the salt on the wind could calm his nerves, the taste of it on his tongue slowed his heart, the deep blue of the waters a true respite for his eyes.
“There,” Jeong finally exclaimed. “A fortnight’s sail.” Hongjoong nodded, watched Yunho do the same. Another fortnight before they had to regain their land legs - there was a stab to his heart that made him long for it to be longer.
***
The crew’s singing had drawn him out to the deck. They were a day out from port, had been lucky on their journey, no storms, no one challenging them, no creatures out for a two-legged meal. They were in good spirits, the sun once again high up, warming the air, clouds shielding them all from burning red like cooked lobster. But as Hongjoong was watching them work in peace, the sky grew darker, clouds pulling close to obscure the sun until it was naught but a ghost of itself, burning a bright circle into the grey-white of the sky. It was eery, a strange silence fell over them all and Hongjoong immediately made for the forepeak. He grabbed a hold of one of the ropes there so as to not be swept overboard by the suddenly harsher wind and leaned off the side of the ship for a better view ahead.
“Captain, don’t! It’s too dangerous,” San called from behind him but Hongjoong shook his head and simply leaned a bit further.
“Captain!” He turned upon hearing Yunho’s voice and was not surprised to see the top deck abandoned, though he was surprised to see not only Yunho and San but also Jongho still standing, waiting on him. “We have to go below deck.” Yunho continued with a jerky nod of his chin in the direction ahead. When Hongjoong turned back to look, there was something brewing there. The clouds were almost black, swirling as if centred on something and he could swear he saw blue-green lightning crash through the columns of cotton-like storm clouds. The air around them was suddenly thick with electricity, tense with the promise of a storm.
“Captain, please.” Jongho pleaded and Hongjoong sighed.
“Go below, I will be right behind you,” he acquiesced, hopping off the ledge he was standing on, keeping a hold of the rope as he took a step towards them. A loud boom of thunder drowned out whatever San was about to say, his words forever lost to the force of nature and Hongjoong was about to ask him to repeat himself when an almost violently blinding bolt of lightning split the waves just ahead of the Destiny. He heard Jongho and San curse colourfully, even as he felt Yunho’s hand wrap around his wrist to pull him back. He went willingly, fell into step with his crew as they ran. Another blinding light, burning his eyes, and he could feel hot tears trickling down his cheeks at the effort it took to keep his eyes open. He blinked, hoping it would soothe his stinging eyes, but between one fluttering of his lashes and the next, everything was quiet, too quiet, and then another kind of noise rose. A multitude of voices rang out, talking at each other, over each other, a tangled mess of words and tones, shouts and whispers. It was unlike anything he’d ever heard before and he looked desperately for his companions, but his eyes took in something so entirely alien, he almost prayed to the forgotten gods of his childhood, the gods of land not sea, for surely he was struck by madness. Ahead of him was water, as it should be, alas what he was seeing… this view should only be possible if he was in water, yet he could breathe and did not feel the gentle embrace of water on his skin. He struggled to take in the sheer size of a reef full of colours that could rival the most extravagant festivals he’d ever heard of, a multitude of fish like he’d never seen danced along the gentle, calm waters.
“Your shirt is funny,” a child’s voice startled him out of his reverie and his hand flew to the pistol on his belt. But as he looked down… it really was a child - what was a child doing on the Destiny ? Then again, did this mean the Destiny was on the bottom of the ocean? He bared his teeth at the child but it just giggled and reached up to pull at the wide, billowy material of his shirt. “So big, do you not get caught on things when you walk? I always get caught when I wear flowy dresses.” The child grinned, revealing a mouth missing several teeth and Hongjoong took a step back.
“I certainly do not get caught on things,” he whispered, startled more than anything and he jumped when he felt a hand on his shoulders but it quickly turned into a sigh of relief when his eyes landed on the familiar face of San.
“Captain,” his master-of-arms trailed off, tone uncertain and with an underlying tremor of fear that Hongjoong had never before heard in his voice. “Where are we?” Oh, how Hongjoong wished he could answer.
“Oh, you have the same shirt,” the child spoke again. This time Hongjoong noticed the slight lisp to its words, most likely caused by its lack of teeth. “Are you a family?” It continued as if nothing was amiss (when in fact everything was amiss as far as Hongjoong was concerned). “Sometimes dad makes me dress the same as my sister so he doesn’t lose us - did your dad dress you like this, so he doesn’t lose you?” Hongjoong honestly was at a loss for words. He watched, dumbstruck, as San crouched down and whispered something to it that he couldn’t make out over the rush of noise in his ears.
“Captain?” Yunho’s voice. He turned, grateful that his focus had been pulled away from the child, and saw Yunho and Jongho stand in front of him. They looked unharmed, no blood staining the loose fabric of their white shirts, no rips in the dark fabric of their breeches. “Where are we?”
“This is a strange place, Captain,” Jongho whispered, his eyes wandering, round and wide, sparkling with the wonder of seeing something unknown. Finally, Hongjoong let himself look. There was a wide open space behind Jongho, the ground underneath their feet was not the familiar wood of their beloved ship, but a strangely smooth material he had never seen before. He jumped at the familiar moving pattern of water on said ground that he had only ever before seen on the bottom of the ocean, yet he was neither drowning nor swimming, the air perfectly fine to breathe and his skin reassuringly dry. Then he looked up and they must be in some kind of tunnel, or building, though how they had ended up here, Hongjoong could not say. There were a multitude of stars, nay they must be suns with how brightly they were shining, decorating the dark ceiling. But that did not make any sense, they were arranged in constellations he had never before seen on the skies and there should only ever be one sun in the sky - he squinted against the light and gasped when he realised. They were lamps, but set deeply into the material of the ceiling in a way he had never seen before, and they were much brighter than he had ever seen a lamp shine. He turned to speak with Yunho but the words died in his throat when his eyes fell unto the water again.
Where before he had been almost afraid they had sunk and he was suffering hallucinations, now he was certain they had been lured into the depths. Gently floating in the water with a graceful smile was a siren, surely he could be nothing else? Hongjoong could see the way his torso bled over into a tail clear as day. They had been tricked. The sirens had waited on the storm to catch them off guard and lure them into the dark abyss of death.
“C-captain,” San’s voice was distant and he was unable to look away from the merman in the water in front of him, but he could feel a hand on his wrist. “That’s a mermaid- merman, siren?” San’s voice was reed thin but Hongjoong could not blame him, he was not sure his own voice would even be able to make its way past his lips. He felt a gasp ripped free from his throat though when the merman in the water suddenly made eye contact with him and beckoned with his hand. He could not help but step forward, one, two, three, then there was suddenly a hard, cold surface in front of him, it hurt but it made the siren floating in front of him laugh and he was not sure he’d ever seen anything more beautiful. The way his long, light rose-coloured hair floated in the water, framing his face like a delicate cluster of stars and flower petals drew him in, made him want to reach out and bury his hand in it…
“Are you real?” He murmured, not sure what he was expecting. The siren smiled and shrugged his shoulders, swimming up closer until they were almost nose to nose before he swam up, up, up. Hongjoong’s eyes were drawn to the shimmering pink tones of his tail. They were darker where they met his tanned human skin, and grew lighter, almost white towards the big fin, which was wide and solid and made Hongjoong want to reach out and touch it. Then the siren tipped back and turned, twisted just above Hongjoong’s head and turned back to him, dark eyes finding his.
“Captain!” He heard Yunho shout and then there were hands on his shoulders again but their grip soon faltered and fell away. There was another siren. This one seemed entirely focused on his first mate who stood there frozen. The other siren’s hair was shorter, did not float like the pink siren’s, his features were sharper, and his tail was a rich green colour that Hongjoong had only ever seen in emeralds before. The siren reached out with one hand, pressed it to, what Hongjoong could now see was one gigantic pane of glass, and he could do naught but watch as Yunho raised his own hand to press it in the same spot as if in a trance.
“Yunho-yah, don’t-” Hongjoong’s eyes were drawn to San, but the other man’s words were also cut off abruptly. Hongjoong cursed quietly in his head as he saw his master-of-arms transfixed on another wall of water, where another siren was weaving his way through the gentle, turquoise waters. San stood as if enchanted, watching the way the light lit up the dark purple shimmer to the dark, almost black scales. So they were underwater, Hongjoong could almost feel himself choke on the non-existent water he feared he was breathing in. The purple-tailed siren holding San captive had swum up to the glass now also, had somehow managed to make San step right up and Hongjoong himself felt himself just as entranced by the deep laugh lines suddenly carved into his pretty face when he smiled. His dark hair floated much like the pink-tailed siren who had caught Hongjoong’s attention and Hongjoong could practically feel San get lost in the movement, the grace of this creature in its element.
“Dangerous…” He mumbled, turning back, with the intention of finding Jongho but his eyes caught on the siren in front of him again. He was pouting, as if he didn’t like that Hongjoong’s attention had been elsewhere. It made something warm and gooey paint his insides like squid ink. He stepped up closer to the glass again, raised his hands despite himself, when the pink siren pressed his own hands flat against the glass. He could almost convince himself that he could feel the heat of his skin against his own. Would the lines of their palms align? He’d spoken to a witch once on one of the Caribbean islands who had told him he’d find someone with lines like his, perfect mirror of contradictions. Did he have to die to find them?
Movement in his periphery made his head snap around to the left and he almost ripped himself away from the glass violently but his body would not obey. There was Jongho, still without his overcoat, wide, white shirt untucked and moving slightly along with the movements of his body as he stepped up to yet another wall of water. Hongjoong was almost scared his eyes would fall out of his skull when he saw yet another siren appear in the water there. His tail was a deep ruby-red, shimmering in the sunlight filtering through the water, entirely hypnotic. His face was perfectly symmetrical, wide eyes, soft lips, high cheekbones - ethereally beautiful. He twisted in the water artfully, like he was one with the waves, and Hongjoong was mesmerised briefly before he saw Jongho reach for the glass as if he wanted to reach out for the siren and follow him further into the abyss.
“This cannot be happening,” he murmured, eyes still wide when he turned back to the siren trying to bewitch him. A stab of pain drove itself right through his heart and threatened to stop his blood flowing when he did not see him anymore. The dull thunk of his forehead hitting the glass when he tried to look for him made him pause, startled and confused.
“You shouldn’t hit your head like that,” a child’s voice rang out to his left. “You kill brain cells like that.” It spoke so matter of factly, that Hongjoong almost felt like he knew what it was talking about.
“Brain… cells?” He questioned, looking down at the child. It cocked its head like he was the one being stupid.
“Duh, hitting your forehead makes you dumber,” it said, tone cutting, Hongjoong cocked his head in confusion. “You gotta hit the back of your head to get them back and be smart again.” It continued and Hongjoong was not sure he had ever been as confused as he was now. Despite that he could feel his own hand move to come up and slap at his neck, before he caught himself and shook his head in embarrassment.
“That’s stupid,” he said instead and the kid shrugged.
“Suit yourself, dummy.” Hongjoong felt the visceral need to shake this child until it spoke sense but before he could reach out, another voice rang out over the cluster of noise.
“Jinsol! Come here, I told you not to speak to strangers.” A man appeared and picked the child up effortlessly. He gave Hongjoong a curious once over, which almost made Hongjoong feel self conscious. He was wearing strange clothes, not the billowy cotton shirts Hongjoong was used to, nor the simple breeches or tall boots. His upper body was encased in tight fabric of a garish yellow colour, half his legs were on display with the short version of breeches he was wearing and his feet were trapped in a strangely simple contraption that had a thread of rope separate his toes which frankly looked like a torture device; Hongjoong shuddered, his toes curling in. It did not help that they were an even brighter shade of yellow than the man’s shirt, a colour of such brightness Hongjoong had never witnessed in an article of clothing, let alone shoes.
“Sorry if she was bothering you,” the man smiled apologetically but it seemed a bit tense. Hongjoong wasn’t sure how to respond.
“No matter,'“ Hongjoong managed to get out, earning himself another strange look from the man before they turned and walked away. The kid looked back at him, miming hitting the back of its head and then giving him a thumbs up; he’d never been as confused before in his entire life, and he’d seen the calculations Jeong had to make to steer their ship right.
“Captain, they are leaving,” San’s voice reached him sounding distressed and Hongjoong snapped his gaze back to where the siren had been. Indeed, he was retreating, swimming gracefully through the water. Hongjoong stepped forward and raised a hand to the glass, a strange melancholy fell over him and he felt this must be what the songs were about that sang of sailors left behind by sirens who did not kill them. It felt as though he was taking a part of Hongjoong’s soul with him. He watched the pink tail move with such strength and agility, it felt like a dream state he was in. Then he was gone, leaving behind a gaping ache in his chest. He allowed himself a beat of sadness, gave in to the part of himself that wanted to find a way into that water and follow the siren to his certain death at the hands of the beautiful creature, but then he shook his head, balled his hand into a fist so tight his knuckles shone white through his sunkissed, weathered skin and turned to his crew where they were all still following the sirens’ retreat.
“Good, let them leave, it means we have survived,” he began, dropping his fist to his side, not letting it loosen. “We have to find the Destiny .” Yunho was the first to break out of it and face him with a nod, then Jongho joined them, and lastly, San, who looked the most crestfallen out of his men. Hongjoong squeezed his shoulder briefly, hoping it would offer the man some support; he got a watery smile in return.
“We follow where you lead, Captain.” Yunho stated, frame rigid, eyes suddenly alert again.
“First we need to find a way up to the surface.” Hongjoong looked up to the ceiling with its too many suns again and sighed.
“I think I saw a set of stairs that way,” Jongho chimed in and Hongjoong motioned for him to lead the way. They followed Jongho and a throng of people to the far side of the room where there was indeed a set of stairs leading up. There was brighter light at the top as well which seemed promising. The people around them threw them strange looks from time to time and Hongjoong noticed stranger and stranger fashions - had they ended up on a strange island whose customs and clothing was that unknown that they had never seen anything remotely like it, or even heard of it?
“Excuse me,” someone addressed San. “Do you know where the Charging Station is? My phone is out of juice.” The person smiled sheepishly but spoke the words with such confidence that Hongjoong was sure they must mean something even if he could not figure it out for the life of him. San looked to him for help, his eyes wide with panic, and Hongjoong sighed.
“Apologies, I fear we have no idea where the juice is,” he said and grabbed San’s hand, walking away without waiting for the person’s response. They didn’t try to stop them either so it must have been the right response. Hongjoong pulled San up the stairs where they both sighed audibly with relief when the sky was wide and blue and there was only one sun hanging in it.
Outside was not much help, however, as Hongjoong looked around and saw no ocean. There were trees everywhere and tall buildings of various colours that sported words which made sense individually but not necessarily in combination (what, pray tell, was a “Hamburger Joint”?). He ignored it all in favour of finding water. They searched for hours. He could see the fatigue on everyone’s faces, their stomachs were empty, their feet sore, their knees had gone wobbly once again, unused to the solid ground after a long time on the seas. He wasn’t sure what was going on, but at least, they knew they were no longer on the ocean, or indeed at the bottom of it. They had just turned the corner at a shop selling ice cream in colours Hongjoong had not seen as food before when there was a loud gasp and an exclamation of joy and then suddenly there was a person right in front of San with a wide grin (strangely familiar laugh lines framing it).
“It’s you!” The man exclaimed while San just stood there with his jaw open so wide, Hongjoong was afraid he had pulled it off the hinges. “Seonghwa-hyung, look! It’s the pretty man from earlier.” The man seemed to have no shame that Hongjoong could see but at least he extended a hand in a greeting casually instead of… Hongjoong wasn’t even sure anymore what he was expecting. “I’m Wooyoung.”
“You’re the siren,” San said intelligently, his eyes unwavering. Hongjoong exchanged a glance with Yunho. “You were in the water - where is your tail? How are you breathing?” The man giggled and Hongjoong watched in horror as San’s ears blushed red.
“Wooyoung-ah, stop bothering customers,” a new voice called out for the man still focused on San and Hongjoong almost choked on his spit when he turned and his gaze caught on all too familiar features. The pink siren. His hair was still damp, the rose-petal pink curling into the skin behind his ears. His eyes were just as dark as they had been in the water, yet somehow, he was even more beautiful.
“Oh,” the man stopped, and seemed just as frozen as Hongjoong felt. “You.” It felt monumental in a strange way, maybe the witch had been right.
“Yah! Why’d you stop, hyung?” The pink siren was jostled by another body walking into him and Hongjoong felt his eyes grow even bigger in surprise when he saw another of the sirens with legs! This one was the one who had had the emerald tail, who had transfixed Yunho while in the water. Hongjoong couldn’t help but feel like he was dreaming - or dead, the likelihood it was death was growing by the minute.
“Woah, it’s you!” The green siren exclaimed. “Seonghwa-hyung, this is the guy I was telling you about - with the pretty eyes and the big hands.” Green siren had turned to the pink siren excitedly before he took a confident step towards Yunho. “Hi, I’m Mingi, we - uh, met? - earlier, in the water?”
“Yes, I-” Yunho was staring. “I remember.” Green siren - Mingi - grinned, his smile toothy and gummy and entirely too endearing for a creature known for dragging poor unsuspecting sailors into the depths of the ocean to drown.
“What’s your name?” Purple siren - Wooyoung? - asked San, who was still standing stock still and only seemed to snap out of it when Wooyoung waved a hand in front of his face.
“You’re beautiful,” he said instead of his name and Hongjoong wanted to drive his head through a wall; how were all his men so useless in the face of sirens?
“Thank you,” Wooyoung giggled and leaned in even closer to San. “What’s your name though? I wanna know what I should be screaming later in bed.” Bold, Hongjoong couldn’t help but be a little impressed - he had always heard that sirens mostly lure with song, not such blatant language. San blushed furiously but managed to stutter out his name.
“Nice to meet you, Sannie,” Wooyoung practically purred.
“Wooyoung, stop it,” Pink siren - Seonghwa, Mingi had called him (Hongjoong let the name roll off his tongue in a whisper, savouring the taste of it, quietly) - scolded. “We don’t know these men, come on, Yeosangie should be - ah, there he is, time to go home. Yeosang-ah!” Seonghwa exclaimed and waved. Hongjoong followed his gaze and let out a shuddered breath at what he saw. The siren with the ruby tail, Yeosang apparently. He looked to Jongho and groaned when he saw the man enthralled once again by the siren’s beauty. Part of Hongjoong could not blame his crew. The sirens were all beautiful, something about Seonghwa was drawing him in just like it had when he was in the water and sporting a fishtail, but they could not afford this distraction, they needed to find the Destiny and return.
“Excuse me, Seonghwa?” He tried the name out and found it tasted just as sweet as the man in front of him looked. He turned to face Hongjoong and the captain almost lost his words again (he would not let a siren steal his voice, never). “We are looking for our ship, could you - do you perhaps know where we can find the nearest harbour?” The siren looked confused, then his gaze swept Hongjoong’s figure and he couldn’t help the flash of insecurity that wracked his body. He’d always been weak in the face of beauty.
“A harbour?” Seonghwa questioned; Hongjoong tried to ignore the way his inquisitive eyes seemed to be staring straight into his soul (and also the way the other sirens were speaking way too intimately with his men). “There’s no harbour here… The coast is like a five hour drive away.” Hongjoong felt his mind pause.
“A five hour drive ? You mean by carriage? Or bicycle?”
“No,” Seonghwa said slowly, looking at Hongjoong like he was the one who had lost his mind. “By car.” Seonghwa continued, enunciating every syllable, eyes weary; Hongjoong cocked his head in confusion.
“Car?” The syllable felt foreign and wrong on his tongue and he was sure it showed on his face because Seonghwa looked genuinely concerned for him.
“Yes,” Seonghwa continued slowly again, it was driving Hongjoong insane. “A car. Big, metal box on wheels, usually about 200 horsepower?”
“You put horses in metal boxes on wheels?” Hongjoong couldn’t help but shout; he’d never heard of a more cruel thing. “Why would you put horses-?” But Seonghwa interrupted him.
“Okay,” again, Seonghwa pulled his vowels long in a clear sign of weariness and concern and Hongjoong wasn’t sure how to feel about it. “Let’s just… Let’s go sit maybe?”
“I agree,” Yeosang chimed in; Hongjoong did not like the way he had a hand wrapped around Jongho’s bicep. “We should get to know each other better.” He smiled before he turned to Mingi. “Also apparently Jongho has never had Cotton Candy? So we need to fix that.” He smiled sweetly at Jongho who looked just as enthralled as he had below when Yeosang was half fish; Hongjoong wasn’t sure what was happening anymore. In a trance, he allowed Seonghwa to take his hand and watched as the four sirens pulled him and his crew to a small, shaded square filled with brightly coloured metal tables and chairs.
“Mingi, go get us some water and some snacks,” Seonghwa instructed and Hongjoong watched as Mingi took Yunho’s hand to pull him along and away. He went to protest but Seonghwa had already pushed him down to sit on one of the chairs and then taken a seat right next to him. He could only watch as San and Jongho were also made to sit while Wooyoung and Yeosang pulled over extra chairs, taking a seat next to them.
“How long have you been walking around this place?” Hongjoong was distracted from the way Yeosang was sitting so close to Jongho, their entire sides were touching and Wooyoung’s hand had already found its way onto San’s thigh, by Seonghwa’s question and the way the pink siren’s hand was still holding his own.
“I am unsure, a couple of hours probably,” Hongjoong looked up to the sun. “Yes, a couple of hours, the sun was higher when we began the search.” Looking back to Seonghwa was a mistake because the man looked even more puzzled than before.
“You tell the time by the sun?” Hongjoong nodded, of course they did, it was the most reliable way on the ship. He went to reply but Seonghwa cut him off. “Nevermind, can we call someone for you? You seem kind of confused, maybe a family member or a spouse? You might want to go to the hospital…?” Hongjoong frowned.
“Call someone? My family are thousands of miles away, and I have no spouse to speak of- I do not see how you would even be able to call that loudly-” The more he spoke, the wider Seonghwa eyes got and the more concern he could read off his facial features but Mingi and Yunho came to his rescue…
“We’re back with snacks - here, water.” Mingi announced and Yunho handed Hongjoong a strange clear cylindrical object. Maybe less rescue and more doom, Hongjoong thought as he tipped the weird object upside down and watched the water trapped within swirl and settle.
“Hongjoong-hyung, they have thousands of these, and look-” Yunho leaned in and wrapped his fingers around the top of the bottle where a smaller, opaque object sat. The thing was reminiscent of a small wine bottle, but there was no cork, he wasn’t sure what material the bottle was made of and he had no idea how one would go about opening it. “You twist!” Yunho’s hand clenched and twisted and suddenly he had the opaque cap in his hand and Hongjoong could see a hole leading into the strange bottle. “Mingi called it plastic. ” Hongjoong looked up at Yunho like he’d lost his mind, then to San to see him watch Wooyoung with rapt attention as the siren showed him how to open this plastic bottle and then to Jongho who was handed what looked like a pink dawn cloud attached to a stick of wood.
“What is that ?” He asked before he could stop himself. Seonghwa’s hand tightened around his and Hongjoong watched as Yeosang instructed Jongho to rip off a small part of the cloud and eat it. “Is it poisonous?” That startled a laugh from Seonghwa (Hongjoong would never admit how the sound made his heart lighter).
“It’s cotton candy, it’s just sugar,” he said quietly, tone reassuring and Hongjoong kept looking at Jongho whose eyes went wide and round as he stared at Yeosang.
“It's like it melted - disappeared in my mouth!” He exclaimed.
“Yes, isn’t it fun?” Yeosang grinned and offered Jongho some more.
“Hyungs, you have to try.” He urged and grabbed the stick from Yeosang to hold out in their direction; Hongjoong would rather die actually. But then he remembered where they were and that they were literally sitting here with the sirens who probably had killed them so he decided that, really, it couldn’t get much worse. The cotton candy was sticky on his fingers, much like caramels or the sugar nuts he used to have as a child. He could feel Seonghwa’s eyes on him when he lifted it to his mouth carefully and he snapped his head up to make eye contact when he finally tasted it. It was sweet, almost too sweet but then the most magical thing happened when he tried to chew it - it was gone, disappeared, melted? He wasn’t sure, he just knew that one second it was there and he had wanted to bite down and the next there was nothing but the sweet, sweet taste of it on his tongue and the roof of his mouth.
“Incredible,” he whispered in awe and watched something akin to endearment bloom in Seonghwa’s eyes before the man shook his head gently (pink hair swishing in the light breeze in a weak imitation of its graceful flow in the water.
“You are something else,” he muttered before he looked at Hongjoong again. “Your name is Hongjoong?” He almost wanted to demand Seonghwa tell him how he knew, but then remembered that Yunho had referred to him by name and deflated a bit.
“Yes,” he answered instead. “Captain Kim Hongjoong of the Destiny .”
“Captain?” Hongjoong nodded, a spike of satisfaction going through him at knowing something Seonghwa seemingly didn’t.
“Yes, of course,” he grinned, cocky and confident for once. “Finest captain in the seven seas if I do say so myself. My crew nevers wants for anything and we are one of the few ships to never have someone succumb to the Spring Fever.” Yunho, San and Jongho gave a cheer and Hongjoong turned to Seonghwa expecting to see him impressed but the man looked even more confused than he did before.
“Spring Fever?” Seonghwa echoed.
“Outdated term for Scurvy,” Mingi cut in.
“Like 18th-19th century,” Wooyoung finished and Seonghwa looked at them before looking back to Hongjoong and back at the other men sitting around the table.
“18th… Hongjoong?” The captain looked at the siren confused once more at the things the two sirens were saying. “What year is it?” Hongjoong laughed, startled.
"Well, that’s a silly question,” he laughed and Yunho, San and Jongho joined in his laughter. They quickly sobered though when they saw the other four not joining in with them. “It’s 1822, of course, but you know that.” If they hadn’t been surrounded by so many people, Hongjoong was sure he would have been able to hear a coin drop into the ocean. The four sirens were staring at him with big eyes full of disbelief. The silence between them stretched, stretched until it was worn thin and fragile and Hongjoong had to break it before it broke on its own.
“What year do you think it is, Seonghwa?” The words were slow to leave his mouth, his tongue like lead once more, sinking, sinking to the bottom of the ocean to drown him.
“It’s 2025,” the pink siren spoke slowly again, carefully, like he was afraid Hongjoong would break (and he very well might at this rate because-).
“What do you mean 2025?” He breathed out, eyes not leaving Seonghwa’s face, looking, desperately, for any sign of a lie.
“The year is 2025. It’s-” He exchanged a quick glance with one of the other sirens. “It’s August 5th 2025, I don’t-”
“You’re lying,” Hongjoong said quietly, voice like steel. “You are a siren sent to make us believe this to drag us to our deaths - we saw your tails!” He knew he could be intimidating when he wanted to be, so he pushed up to stand over the seated Seonghwa, looked at him through his lashes, to cast more shadow into his eyes and he flashed his teeth, hand going to his hip where his pistol still lay untouched, unused, loaded. He could hear the scraping of chairs and saw his men follow suit, putting some distance between themselves and the sirens.
“Sirens?” Yeosang asked, clearly confused but Hongjoong was not about to let them lie to them again.
“We saw you in the water, weaving your magics to lure us here,” he let his head tilt slightly to the side and grinned, just this side of maniacal. “Now, let us go, end this vision and let us return to our ship.” He watched Seonghwa cast a nervous glance at the other men and felt sick satisfaction curl in his stomach; surely he’d won this round.
“Hongjoong,” Seonghwa started, his hand suddenly resting gently on his forearm, his voice was calming and a part of Hongjoong wanted nothing more than to give in and slump into him, but he couldn’t - he was the captain, he was the one who had to stand strong against their foes, the one who went down with the ship. “Please sit down, it really is 2025, I-” Seonghwa paused and something about that hit Hongjoong. The siren, the man, looked concerned and confused in a way that resonated so deeply with him that he knew in his core that Seonghwa wasn’t lying. But… if he wasn’t lying then-
“How is that possible?” He breathed, hated how he could hear the saltwater of tears in his voice, the rasp of his throat almost painful.
“I don’t know,” Seonghwa whispered, one of his hands coming up to cradle Hongjoong’s cheek. “But we’ll figure it out, okay?” Hongjoong looked down, felt the warmth of Seonghwa’s hand on his face, and saw his other lying palm up on his thigh. The fingers twitched, briefly forming a fist before they relaxed again and - life, head, heart, sun, fate. Delicate lines carved into the skin of his palm, a perfect mirror to Hongjoong’s own. He looked up at the siren, the man, swore he could get lost in those eyes, and knew they’d find a way. He glanced at his men, his family, and the three other men looking at them with concern and knew something like destiny existed.