Chapter Text
Jihye’s hands tighten around the rope, her hands turning white from the pressure, “Hyunsung! Grab the line!” She screams out, her voice nearly drowned by the sound of thunder and wave.
Hyunsung pulls on the line, it hovers above him swinging along the ship, “It’s stuck!” Hyunsung calls out, “It’s tangled around the yard!”
“I’ll go aloft!” Namwoon hold onto the edge of the ship, getting ready to step up.
Crash!
Just before he was about to climb up, he nearly fell, Jihye quickly catches him before he hit the ground, “Are you insane? In this weather, you might as well say you want to swim with the fishes!”
“Then what do you suggest we do?” Namwoon pushes her aside, “We need to lower the halyard or else the the sail could rip!” He goes back to the edge, holding on tighter than before.
“Jihye, he’s right.” Yoo Joonghyuk says. Pushing Jihye aside, he grips onto the shrouds, “Namwoon, aloft with me. Hyunsung, ready to lower the halyard. Uriel, Jihye, Pin the ropes before more gets tangled up.” He quickly climb the ratline with namwoon while everyone else scramble to their post.
Crash!
Waves crashes into their hull causing the ship to shake once more, Joonghyuk and Namwoon hold tightly until their fingers turn white, “Go!”
They continue to climb, going against both the ocean and the sky itself, they could only rely on their grip until finally they reach the foot rope. Holding onto the yardarms as tightly as they can, they slowly make their way towards the mast.
Crash!
Another strong wave nearly flip their ship, just as lucky as their ship is, they managed to maintain their footing, holding onto the yard as if it is their saving grace. After what truly felt like crossing a field, they finally reach the mast. With no hesitation, Joonghyuk quickly grab the rope throwing it towards Kim Namwoon. They repeatedly pass the rope until it finally untangles itself from the mast.
“Kim Namwoon, start heading below!” Once their line was secured, the two slowly made their way back.
Crash!
“Captain!!”
Joonghyuk dangle above the deck, the only thing holding him up is his grip on the foot rope, and scream out to Kim Namwoon, “Keep going!”
Kim Namwoon looks at his captain, his feet trembling from the foot rope that have become unstable. He opened his mouth then close it again before finally makes his way back to the ratlines.
Joonghyuk let out a heavy sigh, before taking his other arm to hold onto the foot rope. He slowly makes his way back, his fingers turning white, hands filled with blisters. He could feel his muscles pulling around his shoulder. He could only grit his teeth and keep going until he reach the ratline.
As he was lets go of his hand to hold onto the shrouds— Crash!
He could feel the inertia pulling him downwards, his vision blurs, lights fly across his eyes and before he knows it—
Splash!
Joonghyuk’s eyes flutter open, the first thing he sees were bubbles covering his visions. He quickly held his breath. As he look at the bubbles going upwards, he quickly follows it, swimming as fast as he could until his arms felt sore. Once he reach above water, he takes a large breath of air. But before he could enjoy it for a moment longer, he was immediately thrown back into water.
Joonghyuk furrows his brows, by this point, he may truly drown. He had used up so much energy just to get here. Not wanting to give up, he could only swim. Swimming as fast as he could, gritting his teeth hoping it’s enough to fight mother nature herself.
Crash!
As a wave was about to push him into his own ship, he sank back down to the deep ocean. Joonghyuk could only stare as the surface become further and further away. That is before he realize the pain he feels on his legs.
Joognhyuk look down just to see a creature digging it’s nails into his ankle. His eyes widen, he flails his legs, trying to kick the creature away. But instead, he feels it’s claws digging deeper into his skin. He nearly let out a scream before catching himself. He covers his mouth and glare at the creature. He watch as his blood taint the ocean, flying upwards to the surface.
Surprisingly to him, the creature have decided to look at him, It’s face does not look at all like a monster. Almost similar even to that of a human. He could see obsidian like hair covering it’s appearance, It’s eyes, peeking through it’s bangs. It glows white, giving light, similar that to a star in this dark ocean. Joonghyuk, realizing just how deep it has taken him, quickly pulls out his dagger and stabs it into the creature’s hand. Perhaps it is due to the water pressure, he didn’t swing it as hard as he usually would. The dagger pierced the monster yet it wasn’t deep enough to do real damage to it.
The creature looks up at him, it’s glowing eyes look less menacing now that it’s hair doesn’t block the view. The creature wails, creating bubbles that covers his vision before letting him go and swim away. It’s features becoming harder and harder to see, blurred by the same ocean he is drowning in.
“Ta- Ap-”
Muffled noises enter his ears, attempting to open his eyes, he begin to see a figure, with deep black hair. His appearance is too blurry to make up, light shines behind his head making it even more difficult to make up his appearance.
“CAPTAIN!” The face clears up to reveal Lee Hyunsung’s face, his hair wet, eyes red.
“Hyunsung hyung, give him some breathing room.” A hand rests at his shoulder, Jihye pulls him aside. Blinding light covers his eyes, he blinks until he could make out his whereabouts. He was laying on his bed with Hyunsung and Jihye just beside him.
“Captain, are you alright?” Jihye stood straight, her eyes focusing somewhere other than his face.
“What happened?” Joonghyuk tries to sit up before flinching, he looks over at his ankle, it’s bandaged tightly, but he could see blood tainting the cloth. He can’t help but furrow his brows and grit his jaw.
“You fell off the boat, I jumped in as quickly as I could but the waves made it difficult to reach you.” Jihye then pointed to the bandage covering his ankle, “Once we got back on the ship, Hyungsung hyung immediately bandaged you up with his clothes.”
Yoo Joonghyuk stares his injuries, pondering the sight he had just seen. What was that monster? It looked–
“Captain…” Jihye calls out, fidgeting her fingers. She seems to struggle in saying something.
“What is it?”
Jihye sighs, “The ship has taken a lot of damage, one of our sails got ripped due to excessive force.”
Joonghyuk wasn’t surprised, the ongoing weather is one of the worst he had experienced his entire life. Not to mention the unlucky encounters he has had. “Once the weather clears, we can patch it up. Jihye, go with Namwoon to check the situation at the bildge” Joonghyuk looks out the window, the heavy weather continue to assault their ship, “Expect to stay up til dawn”
As to Joonghyuk’s expectation, they continue to face assaults from the weather until it settles at dawn. Joonghyuk watches as Hyunsung throws out the broken yard overboard
He turns around, “Uriel, status.”
Uriel nods, “The ship have taken significant damage, our main sail is ripped, our fore top gallant yard was struck by lighting however we should still manage. The hull of the ship took some damage but Jihye and Namwoon successfully patched them up on time and I have prepared all the cloths to fix the ship.” She pauses, her expression becoming more grim “Another problem that may affect us significantly… There was a leak at the hold. We had to throw out a lot of our food reserves due to it.”
Joonghyuk draw his brows together, “Will it be enough to make it to murim?”
Uriel shakes her head, “I’m afraid not.”
It couldn’t be helped, Joonghyuk thought of the nearest islands that they could reach but the nearest one they could go to is an enemy’s territory, “From where we are, we should be able to make it to vedas.”
“But captain—”
“If we pay them a hefty amount, they will agree.” Joonghyuk looks overboard, down at the calm ocean, “If not, we will take it by force.”
Uriel frown, steping closer to Yoo Joonghyuk, “Respectfully captain, our ship is not in any condition for combat.” her voice was stern, eyes sharp.
“I’m telling you! She was gorgeous, almost like a goddess! Perhaps she was the one who helped us survive the storms!” Kim Namwoon snickers as he waves his hand dramatically.
Jihye couldn’t help but let out a frustrated sigh, “Namwoon, you’re delusional.” She turns to look at him, “I see while we were busy surviving your mind went elsewhere.” Jihye pulls at his ears, and hits his head.
Joonghyuk looks at Namwoon, body tense— hands clenched. He walks past Uriel, before stopping just behind the two, “Kim Namwoon.” he looks down on Namwoon who was clutching his head.
“Ca– ca– Captain!” Namwoon straighten his stance and bowed down
“Just now, what were you saying?” Joonghyuk glares at him, he watch as Kim Namwoon tremble before him. Amongst all this chaos, someone would grow delusional enough to grasp on any sort of hope they may find. So—why does he feel like throwing him overboard just for a nonsensical conversation?
“I’m sorry captain— I– I was just speaking nonsense!” Namwoon kept his head low, sweat dripping down his face, he clenches his fist on the fabric of his pants as he avoid eye contact from the person who refuses to give him any space to breathe.
“No, repeat it.” Joognhyuk’s voice grow deeper, Kim Namwoon could feel him breathing down his neck.
Kim Namwoon’s entire body shook, he could feel the pair of eyes stabbing at him, “I– I was– I was telling Jihye unnie… about a woman I saw last night— she was just watching our ship. I thought, maybe, it was a goddess protecting us…”
Jihye looks at him and shook her head, looking at her captain, she couldn’t help but feel pressured alongside him. Her captain is most definitely feared amongst the seven seas, but perhaps if he had looked at his enemies the way he is looking at KimNamwoon right now, no one sane would dare to challenge him.
Joonghyuk steps forward and grip Kim Namwoon’s shoulder, “rest.”
Unable to move a single muscle, he could only stutter out a reply, “Ca– I’m–”
Gripping tighter on Kim Namwoon’s shoulder, he said the same thing once more—his voice deeper than before. “Rest”
“Ye– yes captain–” Kim Namwoon’s body shook uncontrollably even after Joonghyuk let go of him.
“Hyunsung, Uriel, patch up the sail as soon as possible.” Joonghyuk turns to look at Jihye, making her flinch, “Jihye, go get rest.”
That night, Joonghyuk stared out the window—his eyes fixated on the ocean. Contrary to last night, it was calm. The weather was clear, you could see the stars above, the waves were calm—gently rocking their ship.
“Captain?” Uriel open the door gently
Joonghyuk makes an acknowledgement noise before Uriel continues, “We have finished sewing the sail back together, we should be able to set it up by dawn.” Joonghyuk turns around, she looks at her hands filled with blisters, “It can be done tomorrow.”
With it, Uriel nods before closing the door, leaving him to his chambers. As soon as she leaves, he looks back at the ocean. Yet, covered with wooden frames, he couldn’t see clearly. He decides to leave the room and look over the deck—Nothing… the ocean was calm, too calm. The moon reflects at it’s surface, the beauty of the night covers him. Yet, all he could do is scowl.
Something is wrong, he’s sure of it. He can’t put a finger on it, yet he couldn’t rest easy. Is it because he nearly died? No… It couldn’t be—this is not the first time he brushed off death. He looks down on the ocean, his brows knitting together.
Why… Why couldn’t he take off his eyes off of the oce—
Aah~
Joonghyuk flicks his head up, searching the ocean. A melody enters his ears, the sound of an instrument seems to bounce off the ocean’s surface and an angelic voice surrounds Joonghyuk.
He runs from one side of the deck to the other, pushing himself against the edge, letting his head out further than he should searching for something—anything. Then… He sees it.
On a small rock, something rests on top of it. It has the body of a man, hair as black as the night sky itself, eyes as beautiful as the stars—his smile, soft and elegant. His tail, covered with scales that seem to reflect the moonlight—moves up and down, splashing the water around him.
His eyes sparkle as he looks over the edge, he doesn’t even care at the fact that his body is halfway outside of his ship. His hair fly with the wind, and his mouth unknowingly opened on it’s own. He tries to reach out to it— closer—closer–