Chapter Text
Thunder hits the main mast of King’s Eagle, loud bang after loud bang. Every man is thrown off their feet, ears buzzing and eyes blinded. The helmsman falls as well, and the ship is left to the mercy of the huge waves and the ruthless wind.
Mingyu grabs some ropes that are hanging from the foremast and tries to stand up. The ship is rocking too hard to be able to stand without support, and even with it, Mingyu doesn’t think he’ll be able to stay upright for long. As the static in his ears slowly fades away, he hears the Captain and Quartermaster yelling orders, trying to get the ship under control again.
That’s when a large crack echoes under the dark sky, shaking everyone roughly again. The mizzenmast breaks in half and falls down, wood charred from where lightning hit it. It breaks through the main deck all the way to the berth, and it lands next to where the canons have been in the process of getting refilled with gunpower before the storm hit.
“We hit a reef!” someone yells over the chaos.
Mingyu grips the ropes tighter. The ship is falling apart. And as if the thunderstorm wasn’t enough already, some wine begins dripping towards the gunpowder. With the speed that the wind is knocking down lanterns and torches, the disaster doesn’t take long to strike.
“Get away from the quarterdeck!” the Captain yells before a huge explosion causes King’s Eagle’s upper decks to split in half.
Fire spreads up the sails, hot and stinking of alcohol. The fabric is so flammable, that the ship becomes a lighthouse of nightmares between the dark, unforgiving waves. The clouds on the night sky finally meet their match with the gray smoke rising upwards, not even the rain enough to smother the fire.
The hit from the reef has been enough to open a hole on the keel, water rapidly rushing inside. With the fire reflecting in his wide eyes, Mingyu realizes that they are sinking.
The Captain hadn’t been fast enough to avoid the explosion. Now that the crew remains without a leader, the panic and despair devour them.
“Abandon ship!” someone shouts.
“No! We’re too close to the Whitecap Bay! Mermaids will be upon us in minutes!” another argues.
“We’re doomed either way!” a third wails.
Realization hits everyone at various states of awareness. This is it. The end of the journey. Mingyu looks around him frantically, trying to come up with something to save himself. At this point, he’d take anything. He’d do everything, even if that means leaving his fellow sailors behind. This is not a time to be a team player. After the Captain’s death, every man is for himself.
“Over here boy,” an old, thin man with severe burns suddenly approaches Mingyu.
There is blood dripping from half of his body and a terrible stench is coming off of him. Two of his teeth are knocked out, the rest rotten. With his bony arms, he grabs Mingyu’s shoulders tightly.
“Boy,” he says. “Take a good look around you and let this be a lesson. Mother nature is the ruler of this world. No man can cross her and come out alive. If you survive this, make sure to always respect her.”
Mingyu stares down at him, terrified. His heart is beating loudly and breathing is becoming harder and harder among the smoke and the rain. The old man though seems determined. He grabs Mingyu’s hand and points towards the Whitecap Bay, visible even with this weather. It can’t be that far.
“There’s your only hope,” the old man says, his hands beginning to shake. “You have to swim, lad. This ship is done for. It’s time to leave her,” he adds, voice breaking in the end.
Mingyu’s breaths quicken. His brain seems to clear up a bit at the instructions, and he looks over at the beach in the distance. He can make it. There are plenty of broken pieces of wood to keep him afloat, despite the waves that are ready to swallow him whole and never let him see the light of day again.
Maybe the mermaids won’t notice him like that either. Mingyu turns his head to thank the old sailor for slapping some sense into him, but the man takes a rusty sword that is hanging from his waist and plunges it in his own chest.
Mingyu gasps, blood splashing all over his vest. He immediately kneels to catch the man as he falls, too shocked to do anything else. The man coughs and pulls his sword out, making his wound gush out even more blood.
“Why?” Mingyu asks, his voice barely a whisper amongst this hell.
“No evil mermaid is feasting upon this old salt,” the other grumbles and uses the last of his strength to look at the black sky. No stars are visible. “It’s time to leave her,” are his final words, before his muscles go slack in Mingyu’s hold.
His unseeing eyes keep staring at the sky as Mingyu lays him down on the floor with trembling arms. If he was religious, this would have been the time for him to pray for the man’s soul. Now, he simply grabs the thin sword that took his life and holds it close to his chest. The blood keeps spilling out of the other’s body, albeit much weaker now without a heartbeat. It flows towards the flames, and Mingyu follows its trail before lifting his head up.
The ship is almost empty now. The fire has engulfed the main deck, but it seemed to have slowed down after the sails were gone. There is no more time to lose.
With another glance at the dead sailor, Mingyu runs towards the back of the ship. He uses the sword to cut the navigation room’s door off its hinges. The rusty metal flies away easily, and Mingyu pulls the door towards the edge of King’s Eagle, stumbling a bit under its weight.
The waters below look dark and uninviting. Mingyu is aware of the monsters that lurk inside them, disguised behind beautiful faces and charming voices. He notes with dismay that from all the men that had decided to jump, there are very few left on the surface. Most of them are screaming and crying for help, before they are suddenly pulled underwater. A few are swimming towards the shore, as determined as Mingyu to survive the night. Mingyu can’t see if any of them have already made it, but he genuinely hopes they have.
He takes a deep breath and grips the door and the sword tightly, his last lifelines. Without another second to spare, he jumps.
The moment he makes contact with the water, he is immediately covered by huge waves. He tries to breathe, but all that is entering his lungs is cold, salty water. Still, he keeps his grip on the door, desperately holding on to life.
He has the orders of a dead man to follow. The sailor’s final hopes are laying with him. Mingyu wishes to see them through before death claims him, he owes the man as much. No matter how hopeless he feels, he manages to find a last sliver of courage to allow him to continue.
With wet and slippery hands, he manages to pull himself on top of the floating, wooden door. Thankfully, it is big enough to carry his weight and not sink. Now all he has to do is keep it upright and head towards the beach.
He has his sword ready for any mermaid that decides to pay him a visit. It won’t do too much against a flock of them, especially if they decide to upturn his door, but Mingyu has no other chance of surviving. Mermaids are attracted to light and noise, so Mingyu keeps extra quiet as he swims away from the torch that used to be his ship.
It takes a lot of effort to get his makeshift boat towards calmer waters. The more he swims towards the sheltered beach, the less the angry waves threaten to claim him. The rain slowly stops too. Storms like this in the middle of the ocean never last long, but those unlucky to get caught in them rarely live to tell the tale.
Mingyu can see high mountains on his left and his right, their dark edges seemingly reaching the misty sky. Rocky cliffs are all around him, forcing him to go to the beach if he wants to survive the impact. There is not much else to see without the moonlight shining above him. The night is dark in every sense of the word.
Still, he somehow manages to reach calm waters without dying, neither from the evil mermaids nor the ocean itself. Just a little more, he tells himself. Maybe he can do it after all.
As hope seems to fill him, so does a false sense of security. His muscles begin trembling again. Adrenaline can only carry him so far after all. His breaths are cut short from the exertion of swimming so hard against the currents, cold and wet, his hair plastered on his forehead. He needs a break, but he can’t afford it. It takes all of his will to continue pushing forward, closer to the sandy beach.
Then, he hears something move. His eyes widen and he instantly pulls his arms above the water. He stays as still as humanly possible, trying to catch sight of whatever is causing the sea to ripple.
After a few moments, he hears it again. It is a smooth sound, something gracefully gliding through the water. He quickly whips his head towards the direction of the sound, but it is too dark to see anything.
Mingyu tries to keep his panic at bay. Maybe he hasn’t been noticed. From below the surface of the water, all that can be seen is a door slowly washing up ashore from the wreckage of the ship. Mingyu holds his breath, not daring to let out even the slightest sound.
When he hears the sound again, he sees what looks like a big fish tail disappearing below the water. There is no doubting what is happening anymore. He tries to reach for his sword, but his arms are too exhausted to even lift it. There is no way he can defend himself with it, not in this condition.
He looks ahead of him, towards the beach again. It looks so inviting, soft sand before a fully grown forest. The Whitecap Bay is a beautiful place, rich and flourishing, untouched by man. Mingyu had been so close…
There is no way he reaches that beach alive. The realization hits him hard, like the ripping of gauze on an unhealed wound. Finally letting exhaustion overtake him, he lies down at the wet wood, on his side. He briefly closes his eyes to calm himself, get his rapidly beating heart under check.
He takes a deep breath and releases it slowly. He does it again and again, until some of his senses return. His cheek feels wet with the water that covers the door. He focuses on that grounding sensation so much, that he misses the sound of water parting for the fourth time.
What he doesn’t miss is the way his door tilts a little sideways due to added weight. Mingyu slowly opens his eyes. His mouth falls a little open at the sight in front of him.
“Hello there, sailor,” a sultry, soft voice says.
There is a person at the side of the door, right by Mingyu’s waist. He has two arms crossed below him on the door, while the rest of his body is dangling in the sea.
Mingyu knew of the mermaids, he knew they were supposed to be beautiful, but this… It is as if the moon has taken a break from lighting up the sky and it has instead decided to visit earth in all its silver glory. The person in front of him is shining, silvery locks framing transparent eyes on pale skin.
Not a person, Mingyu quickly reminds himself. He feels disappointment wash over him as he averts his eyes.
“Are you a mermaid?” he asks quietly.
A slender hand reaches over to brush Mingyu’s sword, from hilt to tip. Mingyu can’t help but follow the movement. His eyes trails to well-defined arms, broad shoulders and prominent collarbones.
“I’m not a maid, sailor,” a deep voice replies, forcing Mingyu to look back at his face.
No, he very obviously isn’t a maid. Mingyu feels his heart jumping in his chest anyway.
“Y-you’re not…” he gulps, intimidated with such a heavy gaze trained on him. “I-I had no idea you existed. What should I even call you?”
“I’m a merman,” the other’s lips lift in a smirk, all alluring and seductive.
Mingyu’s mind briefly blanks. Logically speaking, it makes sense that male mermaids exist, considering they somehow have to procreate. Mingyu just didn’t think he’d ever be on the receiving end of one’s smirk. It is illogically attractive.
He eyes the droplets of water running down the other’s neck, trying to remind himself that this is all a show, one that countless men before him have fallen for. The merman places his head on his hands and leans a bit closer, fully aware of the effect he has.
“And what should I call you, hm?” he says, his eyes never leaving Mingyu’s face.
“I-I’m Mingyu,” he replies, mesmerized.
Somewhere in the back of his brain, Mingyu is terrified. Somewhere back there, he knows that he is nothing but a fly, landing right in the middle of the most colorful, breathtaking carnivorous plant in the jungle. He knows he is being lured in to his death, but he can’t do anything to stop it.
“You’ve made it pretty far, Mingyu,” the merman says, one hand coming to toy with Mingyu’s fingers.
Mingyu holds his breath, both at the contact and at the way his named sounded coming from the other’s lips. It doesn’t escape his notice that the merman’s tone was condescending below all that breathiness, as if he was mocking him. Mingyu links their hands together anyway, their skin tones contrasting beautifully.
He is starting to get dizzy.
“You’re going to kill me,” Mingyu finds the courage to say.
The merman smirks again, not at all reassuring. It is still the most attractive smirk Mingyu has ever seen.
“Now that I found my handsome sailor, how could I ever let him go?” he says, subtly pulling Mingyu closer to the edge of the door.
There is something about his voice, Mingyu realizes. It sounds sweet and warm, with a certain accent and tone that are all too charming.
Has someone like him ever felt pain? Has he ever been scared for his life? Does he question his existence, or is he simply a beast that can talk, serving no purpose other than hunting his prey?
Mingyu doesn’t want to die, he really doesn’t. What is he doing, getting distracted by pretty words on a pretty mouth? He turns his head away from the merman and rolls on his back, deciding to look at the sky instead. If these are his final moments, he would like to spend them looking at the stars. Unfortunately, there aren’t any stars tonight.
“What’s your name?” Mingyu asks, not looking at the other.
There is a beat of silence after his question, before Mingyu feels fingers trailing up his arm. He shivers.
“I’m Wonwoo,” the merman says, his hand finding perch below Mingyu’s chin. He yanks Mingyu’s head to the side, facing him once again. “Why won’t you look at me?” he pouts.
Mingyu bites his lips. Their faces are so close. If the other was human, if Mingyu had met him on a tavern ashore, he might have actually gone for him instead of the usual girls. But now, after his ship sank and everything has gone to hell, he can’t bring himself to fight anymore.
Wonwoo caresses his face with one hand while the other pulls him even closer. Mingyu isn’t under the illusion that he is going to get a kiss. His body moves as the other slowly drags him off the door and he closes his eyes. This is it then. These probably are his final moments.
Is this all there was to life? Mingyu stares down at death and he finds himself disappointed.
He glances down, below the sea, eyes mindlessly following the curve of the merman’s body. There are scales beginning from his lower waist, gray and reflecting whatever little light there is. They travel down a blue-ish, toned tail that disappears in the dark depths below. His tail waves gently along the waves, powerful against the currents. Green fins sprout from it, as otherworldly and beautiful as the merman himself.
“Wonwoo,” he says, tasting the name of the merman who he is going to be food for.
“Yes, my sailor?”
“Is there anything you’d want to die for?” he asks, gulping down his building emotions.
“Hm?” the other pays him no mind, simply continuing to pull him in the sea.
Mingyu bumps their foreheads together. The merman stiffens a tiny bit at that, but he makes no move to pull away.
“I wanted to do so many things,” Mingyu confesses, not able to look him in the eyes. “I wanted to travel up north, see the sky lights. I wanted to try Mediterranean food. I wanted to sail to the end of the world, I wanted to meet my mother again. I wanted to fall in love, start a family of my own. I… I even had an old man’s dying wish on my shoulders…”
There is the slightest pause in Wonwoo’s movement, but it is not enough to give Mingyu hope.
“I thought that if I did all these,” he continues, voice small, “maybe I could have found something worth dying for.”
A beat of silence.
“What’s the point of dying for something you have never seen?” comes the equally quiet reply.
Mingyu looks up then, their eyes meeting. The merman is not smiling anymore.
“What’s the point of dying for an experience you’ve never had?” the other asks again.
His voice is a little different, is the only thing that Mingyu registers. He’s not moving to let Mingyu go, if anything, his grip gets tighter. A façade slowly lifting. Mermaids are terrifying creatures.
“Maybe if I died for something beautiful, my life wouldn’t have been in vain,” he says, voice close to cracking.
Because their foreheads are still touching, Mingyu feels it when Wonwoo frowns. He tries to pull himself back to actually look at the rare sight of a mermaid not looking pristine and dashing, and surprisingly, the merman lets him.
Mingyu is left leaning on his elbows atop his door as the other regards him carefully. This kind of answers his question. Mermaids are not just savage beasts. They are capable of thought. Could they even be capable of compassion?
“You have dreams?” the merman asks him.
Too scared to say anything else, Mingyu merely nods.
“You…” Wonwoo says, hand clutching at the edge of the door. “You’re… alive?”
Mingyu doesn’t know how to take these words. “I am,” he says.
“You’re human, but…” the merman tilts his head, confused.
And Wonwoo looks more human like this too, with his expression not tightly controlled, with his eyes giving out more than flirty looks. He’s not human though, and Mingyu can’t afford to forget that.
“After you kill me, at least remember my name,” he says. “Don’t let me disappear like this.”
The merman’s jaw clenches. It’s unfair how attractive he still is, even now that he’s no longer trying to lure Mingyu in.
“Would it make a difference?” Wonwoo asks, all remnants of playfulness gone from his voice. “You’re just a human.”
Mingyu has nothing to say to that. He is just a human. He is just another unlucky sailor whose ship happened to sink in a storm. There were hundreds like that before him, and there will be hundreds more.
“I’m not important…” he says, ego-checked for one final time. “But I still wanted to find something worth dying for.”
The moments feel like eternities as they tick away, as the merman remains silent. The water has pushed them closer to some rocks on the left, closer to the land Mingyu has been aching to reach all night. He can hear the waves crashing against them again and again, slowly sculpting the stones as the nature wishes. Maybe the sharpness of their edges is her art.
Wonwoo pulls away from him, leaving only ripples behind him. Mingyu almost misses his warm breath against his freezing skin, but the other doesn’t go far. He falls into the sea, disappearing below the waves as if he was never there.
Mingyu’s eyes widen, and then the merman is here again, holding the back edge of his door. Mingyu only has a second to hold on tightly as he suddenly gets propelled forward, towards the beach. He sucks in a deep breath as the wind hits his face once again. He holds on to the edges, barely managing to not fall off.
His sword doesn’t have the same luck. Mingyu watches it fall below the surface, probably joining its original owner at the bottom of the ocean.
Mingyu looks back and sees a silver head barely peeking over the water, two strong arms pushing him closer and closer to the beach. The pushing suddenly stops when the bottom of the sea is visible in the darkness, meaning that Mingyu can get up and walk out.
He does so without a second thought. He all but runs to the safety of the shore, heart beating wildly in his ears. He kneels on the sand and buries his palms in it, tears threatening to spill from his eyes.
He made it. Somehow, he is still alive.
After the first wave of emotions pass over him, he frantically looks around for other survivors. His heart drops when he sees none. There is no way they could have reached land anywhere else apart from here, the rocks are too steep and the waves too powerful to survive.
Mingyu looks up to the sky again, finally beginning to clear up after the storm. Some of the brightest stars impatiently peek through the thin layer of clouds still remaining up there.
“I made it, old man,” Mingyu says to the sky. “I’m safe. You can rest in peace now.”
And he made it with the help of a merman. No one is going to believe him.
At the thought of the merman, he quickly turns around, exhausted but still curious. Wonwoo is still there, leaning against the floating door. He is looking at Mingyu intensely, as if studying a new species.
From the safety of land, Mingyu finds it in himself to smile at him.
“Thank you,” he calls to the ocean. “I… I will not forget this!”
The merman just shakes his head and leaves the door. He swims closer to Mingyu, and only then does Mingyu realize how huge his tail is. It would have been the easiest thing for the other to choke him with that tail, if he didn’t decide to eat him alive first.
Wonwoo resurfaces holding an empty shell in his hand. He tosses it in front of Mingyu, water dripping down on the sand. It lands with a thump in front of Mingyu’s feet, and Mingyu hurries to pick it up.
“Come back to me,” Wonwoo says and Mingyu’s eyes widen again. “When you see something new, show it to me too. Blow on that shell, and I’ll come.”
“You want to see me again?” Mingyu asks, unable to comprehend this.
“I’m curious,” the merman says seriously, still so goddamn beautiful. From the safety of the land, Mingyu runs his eyes over his body once more, properly taking him in. Amongst the white foam of the waves hitting the shore, he looks almost ethereal.
And he wants to see Mingyu again.
“I will come, I promise,” Mingyu nods. “I will find something beautiful to die for and I will show you.”
Gone are the smiles, the smirks, the seductive eyes. Wonwoo’s face is cold as he looks at Mingyu now, apprehensive. He’s not holding a performance anymore, and somehow, he’s all the more attractive for it.
Without another word, Wonwoo slips back to the depths, quick and graceful. Mingyu blinks twice and the other’s gone, swallowed by the ocean. Only after Mingyu is truly alone he allows his legs to give out, to collapse on the sand.
He is exhausted, the blood and destruction still clinging to his subconsciousness even if they have long been washed off his skin. I am alive, I am safe, he repeats to himself, desperately trying to recover from the near-death experience.
Mingyu falls asleep on the shore, a rock for a pillow, knowing that it will be a long while since he’ll feel okay again.
~~~
2 years later
“Mingyu, to the capstan!”
Mingyu barely manages to swipe the sweat off his forehead before he can send a salute towards the Quartermaster’s way.
“On it!” he says through the fire burning his muscles.
Docking in an uninhabited island is not easy business. The Caribbean Sea is full of them, little dots on maps that you never know if they were drawn by a blubbering drunkard in a tavern or if they actually exist. This particular island though, somewhere in the middle of the Grenadines, is a very known one amongst all sailors, despite its small size.
Sometimes, Mingyu misses the luxurious ports he used to dock on, always a flock of soldiers ready to help them tie the rigging and lower the sails. Nowadays, soldiers waiting for them ashore would be the worst case scenario.
Mingyu rushes down the main deck, almost bumping into Seungkwan, who’s huffing and puffing from the effort to tie a proper knot. Sweat is running down his temples too, his nose is already sunburned, but he’s determined.
“And then loop the thing,” Hansol provides unhelpfully from next to him, gesturing wildly at his own, neat knot.
To his credit, Seungkwan doesn’t smack him on the head. He doesn’t glare at Mingyu either, who almost kicks him in his rush to reach the head of the ship. The unforgiving sun bearing down on them all is enough of a distraction, and Seungkwan needs to concentrate.
Tying knots will become second nature to him soon enough, Mingyu is certain. It has been the same for him when he first sailed as well, so many years ago. This crew is a particularly forgiving one, always eager to take in new recruits and teach them the ropes of the job.
If Mingyu has managed to last on a pirate ship for two years, so will Seungkwan.
Mingyu kneels down in front of the cylindrical capstan and undoes all the knots securing the chain. As he does, the anchor drops loudly, splashing water against the hull of the ship as it sinks to the bottom. Mingyu has to wipe his forehead again, sweat gathering anew. A glance behind him tells him that the others are almost done lowering the sails as well.
A smile spreads at Mingyu’s lips as he watches them work in coordination. So many things have changed since the first time he’s been to this island. The beginning of the summer finds him on these waters once again, gazing at a luscious forest and a colorful coral reef. Mingyu has missed this place.
Suddenly, Soonyoung jumps down from the yard above Mingyu’s head, landing neatly next to him. The wood creaks beneath his feet, but he doesn’t seem to mind. Apnea is a strong ship, it would take more than the weight of a human body to damage her.
“We’re back, matie!” Soonyoung claps Mingyu’s back, almost as excited as Mingyu himself. “Are ya nervous?”
“Nah,” Mingyu pushes him away, his cheeks red under the blinding sun.
“That’s a first then,” Soonyoung snorts, wrapping an arm around his shoulders.
He insists on clinging to him, even though they are both sweaty and gross. If there had ever been a time that this bothered Mingyu, it’s long gone. Life on the sea is a messy, dirty affair.
They haven’t docked right in front of the Whitecap Bay, that would be suicide. Instead, they have approached the island that had saved Mingyu all those years ago from behind, across the forest. There is a whole jungle separating them from the sandy beach that frequents Mingyu’s dreams, but this is still close enough for Mingyu to feel like he is back.
Ships don’t dock on this island, not if they know what’s good for them. The Whitecap Bay is a famous mermaid hunting place, perhaps the most famous on this side of the globe. Mingyu had realized that back then, stranded and alone, that the king’s fleet would not come searching for survivors in this place. The only ones brave, or maybe desperate, enough to actually seek shelter from storms in this island were pirates. After almost a week of starving to death, Mingyu didn’t have a choice.
Two years later, and he’s back once again, this island somehow becoming the only familiar land in his endless wandering.
He lied before. He is nervous.
Soonyoung bends over the railing and checks at the depth and trajectory of the anchor, which was probably the reason he came up here in the first place. Jihoon still doesn’t fully trust Mingyu to carry out his duties properly. Soonyoung nods approvingly though, and he allows Mingyu to leave.
Climbing back down the ladder, Mingyu’s eyes fall on Seungkwan again, this time pursing his lips and his head lowered as Jihoon yells at him. The knot lays messy behind him, barely holding together.
“Hey, stop that, he’s still learning,” Hansol places a protective hand on the other’s shoulder.
“That doesn’t mean crap. We have no use of useless bodies in this crew!” Jihoon fumes.
“And we have no use of pissy Quartermasters either,” Hansol fully steps in front of Seungkwan.
“Hey,” Mingyu decides to intervene before this turns into a fight, as it often tends to do when Hansol is involved. “Knock it off.”
Immediately three pairs of eyes land on him. Jihoon narrows his eyes at him, rage briefly directed his way before he sighs deeply. Mingyu knows how it feels to get scolded by this man all too well. These scoldings might as well be the only reason he is still alive.
Jihoon runs a hand through his salty hair to compose himself before he kneels down in front of Seungkwan.
“I won’t throw you to the sharks, but I don’t want you to trip and fall on your own either. You understand that, right?” he says.
“I do,” Seungkwan nods. “I’m sorry, I’ll learn, I promise.”
Jihoon pats his leg once and then he turns to leave. Once he’s gone, Seungkwan lets out the biggest, fattest, most exasperated groan Mingyu has ever heard.
“Can you believe this guy?” he tells Hansol. “I’m doing my best here, Jesus Christ!”
Hansol laughs and ruffles his hair. “I know, you’ll get better soon, there’s nothing to worry about.” He then turns to Mingyu. “Thank you for butting in.”
“It’s fine. He’s just looking out for us though, no need to keep hard feelings,” Mingyu tells them.
“Oh, I know,” Seungkwan stands up and stretches his arms above his head. “Man, it’s hot today. Are we going into land? What’s the plan here?”
“We can go on land,” Hansol offers. “We usually don’t though, we just leave that to Mingyu,” he turns to smirk at him. “We don’t have anyone waiting for us down there after all.”
Mingyu rolls his eyes and shoves Hansol’s face away. Before Seungkwan can ask any more questions, Mingyu walks away, below the main deck. The heat is somehow more bearable down here, where the sun can’t reach. Mingyu goes to his hammock and retrieves a flask of water, gulping it down eagerly.
He’s waited long enough, he thinks. He gathers some stuff he has been carefully keeping in his bag and deposits them on his ropey bed. It’s nothing special, a foreign coin here, a strange cooking utensil there. Mingyu has been told that cooks use this to squash garlic. Minghao would probably have a fit if he found out that Mingyu didn’t give this to him, where it could be used properly, but who cares. There barely ever is garlic in the kitchen anyway.
Mingyu doesn’t quite manage to cool down from the heat outside before someone is tapping his back again. He turns around to see pretty eyes below a red headband, and he gives Jisoo a questioning look.
“Seungcheol asked for you,” the other says softly. “He wants to see you before you go on land.”
“He does?” Mingyu tilts his head.
“Yeah, go to his cabin whenever you’re ready,” Jisoo points above their heads.
Mingyu thanks him and proceeds to stuff his items in his pockets. Apart from those little things, he makes sure to slip in the kitchen and steal an item or two from there as well. He peeks his head inside carefully, only getting confident enough when he sees that Minghao is not here. He’d rather avoid a ladle to the head right before he goes ashore.
Mingyu nips a couple of oranges from a barrel, as well as another flask of water for his trip. He doesn’t think they’ve had oranges aboard last time they were here, they are a pretty rare commodity. Well, nobody is going to notice if a few of them go missing, will they?
With his vest full of loot, Mingyu makes his way outside. The morning routine of wiping the floor of Apnea clean is going on like usual, Minghao and Chan working quietly on different decks. Mingyu sidesteps their dirty water buckets as he makes his way to the quarterdeck, where the Captain’s cabin is located.
He knocks on the door three times, but instead of getting a reply, the door opens to reveal a pretty ruffled Jeonghan, his hair tied in a messy bun.
“Good morning,” Jeonghan greets him with a smirk, sidestepping to let him in the room.
“Hi,” Mingyu waves at him, not at all surprised to find him here. “The Captain asked for me?”
“Is it Mingyu?” Seungcheol’s shout sounds from further inside.
“Aye!” Jeonghan yells back at him. “I’ll leave you two to it. Good luck out there Mingyu,” he winks, as if Mingyu is going on an intricate adventure.
“Um, thanks?” Mingyu says uncertainly.
It’s been two years, and Mingyu still doesn’t know how to talk to their doctor at times. He won’t admit that he is intimidated by him, nope, but the air is different when Jeonghan is in a room. It doesn’t help that Mingyu has no idea how someone like Jeonghan, educated and smart, ended up in a pirate ship with the rest of them lost souls.
Jeonghan gently closes the door behind him and Mingyu walks further inside Seungcheol’s quarter, plastering a smile on his face.
“Morning Captain!” he greets him brightly. Because unlike Jeonghan, he knows what to expect from this Captain.
It isn’t often that Mingyu comes inside this room. Not because he isn’t allowed to, the Captain always made sure he felt welcome ever since he stepped foot on his ship, but because Mingyu chooses to respect this place. Ever since he was young, he had been taught that a mere sailor wasn’t allowed inside the Captain’s cabin without a good reason.
The room is easily one of the most luxurious ones in the entire ship. The most attention-grabbing object in it is a huge mahogany table that has a world map spread all over it. It is around this table that important meetings are held, where their next course is decided. Hansol is young, but he is a competent sailing master by Seungcheol’s side.
Around the table there is polished furniture, cabinets nailed to the wall with locked glass covers. Small, unlit candles and different trinkets decorate their inside, treasure tokens from all the places they have visited.
Mingyu has been there for some of them. There is this huge red ruby of a forgotten god, gingerly placed on a pillow. They had stolen it from a native tribe, Mingyu’s first looting mission. There is the stone head of Aphrodite, the goddess of beauty, snatched from a ship that carried important statues abroad. Mingyu remembers how hard it had been to sell those statues afterwards, but the money they got from them was more than worth it.
Mingyu smiles as he sees the most recent treasure laying carefully on the white expanse of the statue head. It makes sense that this is where Seungcheol has chosen to display the beautiful moonstones of the north, from a country Mingyu never bothered to learn the name of. Amidst the thick fog and the white snow of a Viking temple, there had lain the jewels of the moon, necklaces, earrings, bracelets and rings with stones so silver they rivaled the celestial brightness.
Mingyu had been mesmerized the moment he saw them. They had reminded him of the next purest silver he had seen, in the deep eyes of a sea monster. Mingyu hadn’t been foolish enough to request one for himself. There were some questions that he just couldn’t ask, no matter how generous the Captain is.
“Morning to you too,” Seungcheol stretches in his chair, just as ruffled as Jeonghan has been. Mingyu has learned not to ask questions about this either. “Jisoo found you?”
“Yes, he said you asked for me?” Mingyu hurries to reply.
“Have a seat Mingyu,” Seungcheol gestures at the table and Mingyu has to stifle his excitement. This is the first time he has been invited to sit here, arguably on the most important seats of the ship.
Seungcheol doesn’t make it look special with the way he lounges on top of a chair, feet carelessly thrown over another one in front of him. Still, Mingyu sits next to him with his back straight and his hands folded on his lap.
“So we’re back at the Whitecap Bay once again,” Seungcheol begins. “Last time we were here, you came back with the rough coordinates of those mythical jewels, which were thought to have been lost in time.”
“Ah, yes, that was last time,” Mingyu rubs the back of his head awkwardly.
“And before that, you returned with the knowledge of a safe passageway to the deadliest water cave system, which contained another treasure thought to have been lost forever,” Seungcheol continues.
Mingyu nods. This is primarily the reason why Seungcheol has agreed to let him return to this island now and then. This is why nobody complains when Mingyu says its time to return, roughly every three months.
“When you go to see him today, are you going to ask for more tales from the sea?” Seungcheol asks.
“Maybe,” Mingyu smiles sympathetically. “I can’t control what he tells me. It’s, um… tricky to talk to him, at the best of times.”
Seungcheol nods in understanding. “Then he’s been generous. This is a very delicate situation you have found yourself in Mingyu, you realize that right?”
“Of course,” Mingyu looks down at his lap. “The fact that I’m even alive is a miracle in itself.”
“Jeonghan says that gratitude doesn’t mean much to mermaids, but I would like to express mine anyway,” Seungcheol says and makes to sit up. “You have been eyeing the moonstones ever since we brought them back to the ship. Any reason in particular?”
Mingyu chuckles awkwardly. Seungcheol is the most observant person Mingyu has ever met, with insight to back it up. It’s one of the reasons he makes such a great Captain.
“They reminded me of him, yes,” Mingyu admits. “The first night we met, he looked like the moon itself. Mermaids are really… I don’t know how to explain it. They are something else during the night.”
“They are, I know. Which is why I’m going to give you this to give it to him,” Seungcheol says and carefully unclasps the necklace from around Aphrodite’s neck.
Mingyu’s eyes widen. Seungcheol hands him the thin chain, the moonstones woven around it a pale gray during the day. Mingyu holds it as softly as he can as it pools in his palm, so fragile.
“Really?” he asks Seungcheol. “But the set won’t be complete without it.”
“We’ll know where it is, that’s what matters,” Seungcheol says and sits back down. “Now listen to me, and listen carefully.”
Mingyu places the folded necklace in his breast pocket and straightens up.
“You need to be careful around him,” Seungcheol says seriously. “As cordial as he’s been the last two years, you never know when he will change his mind. Always keep your feet ashore, don’t get too close, and don’t let him get too close either.”
“I know, I know,” Mingyu hurries to reassure him. “I’ve seen him enough times by now, I know what to expect.”
“Mermaids are always going to be dangerous to humans Mingyu, even when they’re not trying to be. No matter how attracted you might feel to him, always keep in mind that he’s a predator first and a friend second.”
“Well,” Mingyu looks up at the ceiling. “He’s not a friend either. Trust me Captain, the way he talks to me is nothing like what mermaids usually do.”
Seungcheol smiles. “I’ll take your word for it. Just remember that he isn’t human Mingyu, don’t try to treat him like one.”
“Aye Captain,” Mingyu salutes him as he stands up. “Can I go now?”
“Yeah, go,” Seungcheol shoos him away. “I want you to be back by nightfall though. We have a meeting with Lau Fang’s crew and I don’t want to have to worry about you when I attend.”
“They are coming here?” Mingyu asks curiously.
It’s not uncommon to meet with Lau Fang’s crew. When one sails on the same waters for so long, it’s only natural to want to get along with their neighbors. What is uncommon, is for sailors to want to approach the Whitecap Bay, even in the relative safety of a whole forest between them and the mermaids.
“Yes, they insisted for some reason,” Seungcheol shrugs. “Oh, and tell Jisoo to come back, we left something in the middle here!” he yells when Mingyu opens the door.
Mingyu shakes his head as he leaves the room, eyes scanning for Jisoo among the others. There’s barely anyone up on the deck with the sun beaming down on them. Thankfully, Jisoo is amongst those perched on the side of the ship, fishing equipment out. Mingyu relays his orders to him and then finally, he is free to go.
~~~
Mingyu steps out of the forest with the sun still up on the sky. He has discarded his vest, opting just for his thinnest white button up to protect his arms from getting burned. There is no shelter here on the beach, only sparkling waters and a refreshing breeze.
Mingyu takes his shoes off when he steps on the sand. It’s warm as it envelopes his feet, and Mingyu takes a moment just to absorb everything around him.
The Whitecap Bay is beautiful during the day, a paradise on earth for the untrained eye. Green grass spreads over the mountain cliffs surrounding the beach, colorful flowers littered between mossy rocks. As spectacular as the sight of nature around him is though, this part is always the hardest for him to relive.
If he closes his eyes, he can still see the storm in the distance, floating pieces of wood on an angry ocean. If he lets his mind wander, the warmth of the sun turns into fire, threatening to eat him up alive if he doesn’t rush into the water.
Mingyu has learned the hard way not to close his eyes. Instead, he grits his teeth and marches forward, towards the few rocks that are okay to climb on. It’s easier for Wonwoo to come to him on the deeper parts, so Mingyu hops from rock to rock along the coastline until he reaches a flat one, suspended right above the beginning of another coral reef.
Mingyu rolls his pants up to his knees and sits down, legs dangling in front of him into the sea. He shields his eyes and looks ahead, at the vast expanse of the ocean. Without any clouds or smoke, he can see the clear line between the sea and the horizon, especially when the waters are as calm as today.
Way too calm, not even a ripple apart from around the rocks. Mingyu smiles as he pulls out a familiar shell from the chain around his neck. He’s about to change that very soon.
He takes a deep breath and brings the pink shell close to his lips. He blows as loud as he can, a deep echo of a voice traveling upwards, downwards and all around. It’s only a matter of waiting from now on.
The first time he blew on that shell, he had been almost certain that Wonwoo wouldn’t show. After all, who can trust a mermaid? He did come though, mere minutes after Mingyu had called too, as if he hadn’t believed Mingyu would return either.
Mingyu carefully places the shell back beneath his shirt, tugging at its collars in attempt to straighten it a bit. It’s a lost cause.
Before he can lament too much on his wrinkly shirt, the waters part a few meters away. Mingyu whips his head around, but he only manages to catch a glimpse of green, almost gold under the sun. His eyes follow the silhouette as it weaves just beneath the surface of the water, until the water splashes in front of him and silver hair pops up.
Wonwoo shakes his head, causing droplets of water to land on Mingyu’s bare legs. Mingyu can’t help the small smile that blooms on his lips as the merman meets his eyes, so tragically beautiful. He doesn’t have that otherworldly aura that he has during the night. The sun reveals the most intricate details of his skin, the veins in his arms that end on his fingertips. Fingertips that come to grip the side of the rock Mingyu is sitting on, not too close, but not that far either.
“Hi,” Mingyu greets him. “I’m back.”
Wonwoo merely nods at him in acknowledgement, eyes scanning him from head to toe.
“You look healthy,” is all the greeting he offers, no smile to soften his tone.
Well, Mingyu is used to that too.
“I am,” he says, taking the two oranges out of his pocket. “How about you?”
“I’m fine,” Wonwoo replies. “As usual.”
It’s still weird to inquire a mermaid about their daily life. There are so many things that Mingyu doesn’t know about them, their culture, the way they pass their time, and Wonwoo has never been willing to share. All they have is this, short conversations that almost look pointless at times.
“I brought you stuff,” Mingyu says. “Have you eaten today?”
Wonwoo blinks up at him and then leans a bit forward to squint at the fruit. It makes Mingyu bite off another smile. Wonwoo used to be the most intimidating person Mingyu has ever talked to, but time after time, he realized that Wonwoo couldn’t see all too well outside of the ocean. It always eases a bit of his nerves to see him squint under the sun.
“Oranges?” Wonwoo asks. “Um… fruit?” he tries to recall the proper word.
“Yes,” Mingyu says and tosses him one. “Catch.”
Wonwoo doesn’t manage to catch it and it falls in the water. He scoops it up quickly before it can sink, and he brings it to his nose to smell it.
“You have to unpeel it first. It’s sweet on the inside,” Mingyu informs him, scratching at the top of his own orange until he can put a thumb under its skin.
Wonwoo regards him carefully as he unpeels it, before submerging his own orange under the water. Mingyu bites his lips as he sees a nail neatly elongating to a sharp edge. He’s gotten used to a lot of things Wonwoo does that are completely normal to him, but this hasn’t been one of them. It reminds Mingyu too much of the monster of his nightmares.
Wonwoo merely uses his claw to slash the skin of the orange and then he goes back to normal, peeling it like Mingyu did a few seconds ago.
“Yeah, good,” Mingyu nods at him, willing his nerves to dissipate. “You can split it open now and have a bite.”
Wonwoo does so, eyes not leaving the orange. His lips part to take a bite, his teeth sink in the flesh, lips fitting around it. Some juice drips down his chin, and Mingyu has to keep his mind from wandering for entirely different reasons now. He takes a bite of his own orange and makes a face at the taste. They are out of season, so they are more bitter than usual.
“It’s good,” Wonwoo says though, chewing his small bite. “Better than the last thing you brought. Um, pears?”
“Really?” Mingyu raises his eyebrows. “Maybe you don’t like sweet stuff then. I’ll keep that in mind for the next time.”
Wonwoo blinks at him again as he takes yet another bite, his transparent eyes a majestic sight.
“And no, I haven’t eaten,” Wonwoo says as an afterthought. “You called me mid-hunt.”
“Hunting fish?” Mingyu tilts his head.
Wonwoo doesn’t reply, which means he has an answer Mingyu won’t like. Ah. Mingyu supposes he’s used to that too.
“My sisters have it covered, it’s fine,” Wonwoo says.
Mingyu pulls his legs away from the water, Seungcheol’s warning ringing in his head. He crosses them in front of him, giving space for Wonwoo to shimmy closer to him. He pulls his upper body out of the water, his elbows supporting it on the edge of the rock. He takes another bite out of his orange, and Mingyu tries really hard not to stare.
Wonwoo must sense his predicament because he smirks, not quite the smirk he had used back then, but a more cocky one, more real.
“What else have you brought me, my sailor?” he says, voice more teasing than seductive.
“Um,” Mingyu gulps. “Yeah. I brought you stuff,” he repeats, hurrying to take out the other nick-nacks from his pockets. “We went up north since the last time I saw you,” Mingyu explains, placing the coin down in front of Wonwoo.
Wonwoo takes it in his hand and brings it right in front of his face to study it.
“This is only a bronze one. It’s not worth much, but I thought its design was the prettiest,” Mingyu adds, his fingers toying with the edge of his sleeve nervously. “And I only want to bring you beautiful things.”
Wonwoo averts his eyes from the foreign coin. They land on Mingyu instead, a little softer than before, no more teasing. Without taking his eyes off him, he swallows down the rest of his orange and he licks his fingers afterwards, one by one. Sometimes, Mingyu wonders if he is aware of what he is doing from a human’s perspective.
“And this?” Wonwoo asks, pointing to the garlic crusher with his chin.
Mingyu chuckles a bit, letting the breeze cool down his uncomfortably warm face. “This is just a weird little cooking utensil I found in a village. Its handle pattern is handmade from a grandma ashore.”
“And she just gave it to you?” Wonwoo raises an eyebrow.
It’s Mingyu’s turn to not answer. He doesn’t do it because he thinks Wonwoo won’t like the answer, but sometimes, he isn’t properly equipped to deal with the moral consequences of his new… profession. This is one of those times, a time that he feels particularly vulnerable.
“It’s used to crush garlic,” Mingyu says instead. “They use garlic a lot in those mediterranean recipes I told you about. I don’t know, maybe I felt like I was a little bit closer to achieving this particular dream.”
“Oh,” Wonwoo says, only now paying proper attention to the utensil. He takes it in his hand and turns it back and front, getting its wood wet in the process. “I see.”
“I saw the lights, you know,” Mingyu tells him. “The sky lights.”
“Up north?” Wonwoo asks, putting the thing down to give Mingyu his whole attention. “Was it as good as you expected?”
Mingyu nods. “It was… magical. I was very cold at the time, but the moment the skies split and it rained light, it was so worth it.”
Silence falls after his words, the only sound to break it the swashing of the soft waves Wonwoo’s tail is making against the rocks. A small crab crawls alongside a rock to Mingyu’s left, quickly disappearing as soon as it sees them.
“How much?” Wonwoo asks after a while, voice quiet.
“What do you mean?”
“How much was it worth it? Is it a reason to die?” Wonwoo asks seriously.
Mingyu lowers his eyes. It’s always the same answer, delivered with the same disappointment.
“No.”
Wonwoo looks disappointed too, in that aloof way of his. He doesn’t say it, but Mingyu can see it in the way his lips purse yet another time
“I don’t know if…” Mingyu starts saying, but he stops midway.
He doesn’t know how to say it. He doesn’t know if Wonwoo will even want to hear it, that there might be nothing in this world worth dying for. As the months come and go though, as they turn to years full of adventures and new places to see, Mingyu has started doubting that there will ever be something he wants to die for.
From every thing they have discussed at these meetings of theirs, these are the only times Wonwoo seems to be hanging from his every word. Mingyu doesn’t want to lose this, he doesn’t want to return here one day only to find that Wonwoo hasn’t bothered to heed his call. So he says nothing.
“I did find something beautiful there though, apart from the lights,” Mingyu smiles at him.
Wonwoo settles down, chin perched on his folded arms. “What did you find?”
Instead of answering, Mingyu carefully picks out the silver necklace from his breast pocket. It flows like water between his fingers. It dangles above Wonwoo’s eyes in all its silver glory, the thin chain embracing the glittering stones.
Wonwoo’s lips part. “These are moonlight stones,” he says, blinking up at the most precious jewel Mingyu has ever held. “You found them?”
“All thanks to you,” Mingyu tells him. “All because you told me where to look.”
Wonwoo reaches up then, chin still tucked on his arm. He brushes his fingertip against the twisting gems, as softly as touching dust. Mingyu has to remind himself that these are the same hands that have drown dozens of men before. These hands are capable of violence indescribable by human standards.
Wonwoo is not human though. He doesn’t abide to the same laws Mingyu does, moral or otherwise. Yet, he still touches the necklace like he understands how precious it is. Like he understands nature’s art. Maybe this is a thing they have in common.
“It’s for you,” Mingyu blurts out, mesmerized by the sight in front of him.
“Hm?” Wonwoo barely looks at him, attention still on the stones.
“I brought this for you. It’s a thank you from our Captain, for helping us locate them, but… um…” Mingyu can’t help but hesitate again.
Wonwoo looks at him again, silently waiting for him to continue.
“From the moment I laid my eyes on it, I thought that its beauty would match yours. I wanted you to wear it during the night and maybe think of me too…”
Wonwoo’s lips part again, but he closes them. “Oh…” he says, averting his eyes for the first time since Mingyu has met him.
Mingyu gives him a timid smile. “Can I put it on you?”
“Really?” Wonwoo asks, voice a little disbelieving. “You’d give this to me after all the trouble you went through to get it?”
“Yes,” is the easy reply. “Nothing might make sense in this world, but I’m pretty sure this was made for you.”
Wonwoo says nothing at that. He stays still for a moment longer before he rises, pushing his body towards Mingyu. Mingyu gets on his knees in front of him, heart beating a bit faster than usual. This is an intimate moment, he realizes. Wonwoo has never allowed him to touch him before, not after that fateful night. Now though, he leans his head down as Mingyu brings the necklace around his neck and clasps it over his nape, fingers brushing over his skin.
Wonwoo doesn’t pull fully back as his head rises again, a hand coming to touch the fragile chain that now decorates him. And yeah, Mingyu was right. This is definitely where this jewel belongs, draped over this merman’s collarbones, driving even more attention to his beauty.
“I don’t care about your Captain’s gratitude,” Wonwoo says then.
Which leaves plenty of other things Mingyu has said for him to care about. Mingyu doesn’t call him out on it, content to just live in this little bubble forever. A bubble where Wonwoo doesn’t look at him like a test subject, or a pet.
Wonwoo pushes himself off the rock then, his chest getting submerged in water once more.
“I’ll keep this,” he tells Mingyu, like a last warning.
“That would make me happy,” Mingyu smiles at him, his fondness probably shown clearly on his face.
Wonwoo huffs out something that’s awfully close to “humans”, and then he touches his necklace again. It somehow looks even better wet, as if its vibrance has come to life. As if this was how it was supposed to be viewed all along, below the filter of water.
“There are more gems like this,” Wonwoo tells him. “They are all over the world, unique stones or one-of-a-kind jewels.”
Mingyu perks up at this. “Would you like to tell me where to find them?”
Wonwoo mulls it over for a bit before he shakes his head. He looks up at Mingyu one last time, his tails making pretty patterns beneath him.
“I’ll tell you when you return to me,” he says.
Mingyu stands up as well. “I’d return either way.”
Wonwoo unsubtly rolls his eyes, as if he doesn’t understand Mingyu’s willingness to return to this dangerous place just for him. Granted, sometimes Mingyu doesn’t understand it either, especially since the following nights are going to be so hard for him to sleep. He knows that the moment his eyes close he will be on his old ship again, or at the mercy of the waves, or starving on the beach. It’s the price to pay for returning.
The sun is beginning to set. Mingyu would love to stick around and see just how much more magnificent Wonwoo will look under the moonlight, especially now that he’s wearing her stones. He has promised Seungcheol he’d be back by nightfall for his meeting though. He has to leave now if he wants to be out of the woods by that time.
“Until next time then,” he throws Wonwoo a lazy salute, hopping over to the next rock.
“Yeah,” is all Wonwoo has to say.
His eyes don’t leave Mingyu though until he safely makes it back to the beach. It makes him wonder if the other would have caught him if he tripped and fell in the water. If he’d carry him along the waves towards his safety like last time, or if his instincts would win over and he’d decide to turn him into a feast. Mingyu leans down to tie his shoes, and by the time he glances back to see if Wonwoo’s still looking at him, the other has disappeared.
Until next time, he repeats in his head. He starts making his way to the woods, wondering what kind of meeting Seungcheol is going to hold with another pirate Captain that’s so important it couldn’t wait until they left Whitecap Bay.
Looking back on it, maybe this should have been his first clue that something was going to go extremely, irrevocably wrong.