Show me love, not a dream → for gollumpanties (1/3)
Title: Show me love, not a dream
Recipient: gollumpanties
Pairing(s): Xiumin/Sehun, minor!Chanyeol/Kyungsoo
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: violence, mild gore
Word count: 25.4k
Summary: Their quest for the Fountain of Youth could very well be their last as the crew of Death's Angel (pirate!au).
Death's Angel had been docked at harbor for over two moon cycles. Sehun's lost count of the days, he hasn't really kept up; but for him, it's been far too long being tied to the land. He's never liked the land as much as he's loved being on the ocean, far away from grimy streets and toxic alleys. Whereas living on land only brought him bad memories of empty stomachs and weak bones, ready to collapse from use at the end of every day, the sea was Sehun's home. The sea is Sehun's addiction now, the salt water and sense of adventure like a drug and he had been hooked from his first step aboard Death's Angel.
He'd been sent out to scout around the market for new deals on food since they'd be heading off soon. And now that his job was done, he had a bit of time to himself. Time in this Water Nation town passes at snail's pace, he thinks. Day in and day out it was the same, and he'd become desperate for escape from the cycle once more.
He doesn't really care where he goes now, everyone is off finishing their own duties on harbor, but he finds himself wandering towards the docks. He takes a seat at the edge, popping a few buttons from his shirt and sliding off his boots, taking care that the extra dagger he keeps there wouldn't slip out. The ocean water is warm for mid-morning, and the heat's only going to get worse for the day.
"Hey, Sehun!" Chanyeol calls out, making his way to the dock with three full sacks of potatoes in his arms. He takes care not to damage the food when he drops the sacks with a huff. He stretches like a cat with long arms pulled high over his head and back arched until it pops. Chanyeol slides his shoes off and takes a seat next to Sehun, immediately kicking his feet in the water and watching the small water ripples fade out. "Did you hear? We might be heading back out within the week. We've got a few more supplies to get and then I think we'll be off."
Sehun finds himself smiling, heart thumping with the building adrenaline like the first time they'd ever set foot on a pirate ship. He and Chanyeol had been friends before they'd joined Death's Angel together. Chanyeol had been the one to convince him to run away, to give up his life as a street kid and try for the sea. His new life is better than he could've imagined then.
Of course, he would've never reached this point if it hadn't been for the captain. When they'd been caught aboard the ship, Death's Angel had already sailed hundreds of meters away from the harbor, it was Captain Suho who decided they'd be put on a trial run- that if they could truly do the work of living on a pirate ship, then they could stay. Any other captain would've thrown them off the ship immediately.
"Did Luhan finish his auto-mail checkup?" he asks, kicking a bit of water at Chanyeol's leg. Chanyeol doesn't even bat an eye.
"I think he went this morning, but when I saw Lay later, he said Luhan's checkup had gone well. His prosthetic didn't need any repairs and they even had to extend his leg a little." Chanyeol flops back on the boardwalk, squinting from the harsh glare of the sun in his eyes. Sehun remembers when they were kids doing the same, when they were both toothpick thin and almost ghost white from hiding in shaded ally corners with empty stomachs. He shudders, even in the heat of summer.
Now, they're almost tanned from hours out in the sun, Sehun working up by the sails and Chanyeol working on repairs at the side of the ship. They're fuller from the food they've stolen from other Water Nation ships and have more change in their pockets from the loot they've taken. They aren't the same scrawny street kids anymore.
Sehun lays back on the dock, closing his eyes for a brief minute. But he can't keep still. His toes are still splashing the water, his fingers wind themselves in the thin fabric of his shirt. He wants to be out on the sea; he feels like it's pulling him in, where the salty wind whips against his face and the air is clean of cigar smoke and grime from the streets.
Time passes far too slowly for Sehun, but eventually Chanyeol gets up and slips his boots back on. "Come on, I'll race you back to the ship."
Sehun laughs, tugging on his boots and double checking that the dagger is secure. "Only if you carry two bags of potatoes," he says, grabbing a sack and hoisting it over his shoulder.
He knows Chanyeol will still beat him anyway. But once Death's Angel comes into view, Sehun grinds his teeth and pushes through the steady burn in his legs and his lungs to make it to the ship faster.
Dinner that night, just like every night, is a mess of noise and food with everyone trying to talk over one another and rum sloshing from the sides of every cup. Sehun gets his hair mussed by almost everyone as he's mockingly coddled and good-naturedly (but painfully) punched in the arm as jokes are told around the table. The noise keeps him distracted until night falls. As much as Sehun enjoys Baekhyun's shouting across the table and Chen clumsily knocking over cups and plates to the floor when he's drunk, he enjoys enough quiet to hear himself think. The wait for nightfall is agonizingly longer in the middle of the summer, but the clear night skies and the cool sea breeze are worth it.
He grabs one of the older apples from the kitchen, the batch is bound to be rotten soon enough, and he heads out to the deck. He climbs up the mast with the apple caught in his teeth, feeling his muscles burn with disuse as he makes it to the lowest branch of the mast. He hasn't taken a fall from the sails yet, but he isn't willing for tonight to be the first.
Four more days at the harbor, that's what Luhan had promised. Sehun could wait four days- he'd waited twenty years for a chance to get out of his hometown. Four days were nothing. At least the stars were nice in the harbor. Clear night skies were the best when the wind was a little cold but still tasted like salt in his mouth and clung to his skin. The smell of the sea wrapped around him like a blanket, all the more comforting.
Sehun wasn't really sure what Suho was after, that's something only the first few of Death's Angel's crew really knew, but it didn't matter to him. Suho trusted his crew; he'd tell them in good time.
He takes a bite from his apple, feeling the sturdy apple disintegrate to mush on his tongue. Just four more days and he'd be home.
Two days before they set off, the captain calls them for a meeting on deck after dinner. Normally, it's Luhan's job to call the meeting and delegate tasks for set off as he's the quarter master. Sehun figures it must be something important.
"What do you think the captain wants?" Tao asks, plopping down next to Sehun on the deck and slotting into his side.
"Who knows," Chanyeol groans, head heavy in Sehun's lap and body sprawled out on the wood. "I hope it's that he's got some chocolate- and not that bittersweet cheap crap they sell at the market."
Chanyeol groans when Chen comes by, kicking at his calf. "We all know you're hiding a stash underneath your bunk, Chanyeol," he smirks, high-fiving Tao as he takes a seat. Chanyeol looks comically mortified, hurriedly trying to push off of Sehun to make for his stash when Luhan catches him by the collar and tosses him back.
"The meeting's about to start, kid," Luhan chides, walking up to the front of the cluster of people on deck with a slight limp in his step. He must be still getting used to the prosthetic, Sehun muses. Luhan had spent almost all his time at harbor fixing and trying new auto-mail prosthetics. The rumor Sehun and Chanyeol had been told their first week aboard the ship was that Luhan had his leg amputated in the midst of a battle when a canon backlash caught his foot, but he still continued to work, firing the canon and commanding the fire power despite the pain. It turned out that during a trek in the jungles of the Earth Nation, Luhan had been poisoned by a bite to his calf and his leg couldn't be saved in time before the necrosis took over.
Kyungsoo is the last to show up on deck, having been the last to leave the dining hall after cleaning up everyone's mess. The chef was probably the neatest person on the ship, hoping to stave off infections from the kitchen as much as possible. The rest of the crew were slobs in comparison, Sehun included.
They wait a little in stale silence until Suho calls out to let down the boarding platform. It takes Chen, Tao, and Chanyeol combined to lower the platform down, being careful to hold it in place as Suho climbs aboard with a man in tow.
"Ah, Minseok!" Luhan exclaims from his perch on a spare crate. "I didn't think the captain would actually convince you."
The rest of the crew members look on in confusion. Sehun watches as Minseok settles next to Suho, hands clenched behind his back and a slight smile curling at the edges of his lips. Minseok is about as tall as the captain, clad in slacks and a thin shirt. His brown bangs are plastered to his forehead from the summer heat making him sweat. And even though it's dark, Sehun can see the shine in Minseok's brown eyes. He isn't sure why his heart stops for a moment.
Suho clears his throat and adjusts his hat. "Crew, I'd like you all to welcome Doctor Kim. He'll be our medic aboard for the next journey.
"You're the guy who fixes Luhan's prosthetic, aren't you?" Lay exclaims. Dr. Kim nods, shyly fisting the hem of his shirt.
"Dr. Kim works as both an auto-mail mechanic and a medic," the captain says, pacing in front of the group. "Death's Angel is going to be starting a new journey, and we'll need a capable medic this time around."
The statement is followed by hoots and hollers from the entire crew as introductions are made, immediately followed by patting the doctor on the back and trying to convince Suho that alcohol is desperately needed now in celebration. While normally Suho is strict about alcohol outside dining hours, he concedes and a few bottles are pulled out from the stock. They can easily be replaced tomorrow.
Sehun slips into the background- it's easy when everyone attention is on their new recruit. It's nice to watch things from a distance, the way the doctor's smile still shines bright and warm like sun rays. A healthy flush makes its way to Minseok's cheeks after downing a bit of beer and the embarrassment with everyone's interest in him.
Sehun watches from afar like he watches the stars at night. And yet, watching the stars doesn't give him the same thrum of adrenaline under his skin, pulsing through his head and drumming in his chest.
While Sehun spends the late afternoon up in the sails, double checking that ropes are tied, noting which sails will be unfurled tomorrow, and looking for damages to the aged wood of the masts to avoid the strong summer heat, Chanyeol and Chen are sent into town to fetch the doctor's belongings. Minseok is nowhere to be seen the entire day, and Sehun figures he is in town gathering some last supplies.
By sunset, Chanyeol is dragging two of Minseok's trunks up the boarding plank with Chen steadying it from the bottom and finally bringing up the last. Sehun watches as the two struggle to drag the trunks into the dorm rooms. It had already been decided that Minseok would take a room to himself, next to the captain's quarters, and Baekhyun would be moving into the spare bunk in Lay's room. The last shares of the food have been brought during the day and are secured in the hold. The navigation team has run multiple checks on their course set for tomorrow, reading the weather patterns to ensure sailing out on a sunny day with plenty of wind.
Sehun watches as Minseok hops aboard the ship last, long after the sun is set, with an extra bag in hand. Odd, he thinks, for a man as serious about his job as Minseok seems, his bag explains something different. Off the handle hangs a yellow star shaped charm, formed as if by a child.
Minseok doesn't notice him, slipping easily into the main corridor of the dorms. When the door shuts, Sehun feels the full force of the icy night wind sink under his skin. He shivers, eating the core of his apple in silence, spitting out the seeds before tossing it into the ocean, imagining that under the inky darkness of the night, the fish all scramble for what pieces of apple they can take.
Four days out of the harbor and Sehun couldn't have felt better. The sea is a sparkling blue, clear enough to see the fish swimming around the boat underneath. They've had nothing but clear skies and continuous summer wind currents, keeping him busy climbing through the masts to adjust the sails. The sailing is calm enough, so he's usually the only one up on the gaffs unless Baekhyun is called up to help with the second mast.
Sehun spends all his time up in the masts, only coming down for food and sleep. On the third day, he takes his lunch of bread and cheese up to the highest gaff, watching the rest of the crew from above. Death's Angel isn't the biggest ship on the sea, but the masts are tall enough for Sehun to feel like he's looking at ants on the deck instead of the crew.
Minseok is often in and out of the dorms. He never stays out on the deck for too long, only watching the crew members work for a moment, chatting a few times with Luhan or Lay, before diving back into the dorms. Sehun often catches Minseok unpacking medicines and tools in his room or slipping into the captain's room at night. He wonders if Minseok is truly bored, if the doctor enjoys watching the empty sea and tending to any of the small injuries that happen aboard. Sehun would be bored out of his mind if he were in Minseok's place.
Suho calls them in for a meeting on the afternoon of the eighth day. Sehun slides down the mast, sweat clinging to his shirt and gluing the fabric to his skin. Chen, Baekhyun, and Chanyeol are in a similar state to himself, sweating through their clothes (Chanyeol has already shed his shirt). Kyungsoo, Tao, Luhan, and Lay all look unfazed, like spending hours in the sweltering sun hadn't affected them in the slightest.
Chanyeol sighs loudly, leaning against Sehun's shoulder and squinting at the sun. "I bet he's gonna make us clean the ship," he whispers. They both groan just thinking about cleaning the ship. Suho's a stickler for cleaning the corners and nooks and Sehun's pretty sure there are other things he could do on the ship than clean.
Luhan clears his throat, startling the two. "I should just make you two clean the ship alone," he says with a smirk, taking his seat on a crate.
Chanyeol groans even louder in annoyance flopping on his back. "Luhan," he whines, "are we really going to clean the ship?"
"Nope, no cleaning today." Chanyeol immediately straightens up at the captain's voice, heat rising to his cheeks in embarrassment.
Suho mentally counts the crew members, noting everyone is here with a subtle smile. Minseok follows behind Suho, taking a seat towards the back of the crowd, a healthy red sunburn on his cheeks and the collar of his shirt damp from sweat. Sehun feels a little bad; the doctor doesn't do much on the ship but suffers the sunburn and sweat like everyone else.
"Crew, I'd like to announce what may be Death's Angel's final quest," Suho begins, voice a little somber but his eyes lighting in mirth. Sehun's gaze meets Chanyeol's in panic. The blood runs cold in his veins.
Even Chen looks bewildered. "Final quest?! But, captain-"
"Chen, don't interrupt me," the captain sternly chastises, and that's enough for Chen to cut off his sentence and fist his shirt in his palms. "We're going to find the Fountain of Youth."
The ship goes unnaturally silent, not even Chen has a snarky comment or anything at all to say. Sehun feels a little hollow, like the wind could blow the husk of his body into the ocean.
Suho clears his throat and continues. "For those of you that don't want to participate, there's one final Earth Nation harbor we'll stop at to pick up a few more supplies. You can leave there."
Again, no one on the ship says a word, moves a muscle, barely breathes. Suho scuffs his boot against the deck and smiles.
"The Fountain of Youth is on an island hidden amongst the mist off the coast of the Earth Nation. There are two obstacles guarding the Fountain if you make it through the mist: Kai and the Undead Pirates and a beast named Dark Thorn."
Sehun freezes, lips pressed so tightly together that his teeth feel ready to break through the tissue. He isn't ready to go back to the streets. Even with the little money he's got saved from his share of raiding ships, it isn't enough to keep him going for long. His fingertips are ice cold, locked in his skin, nails pressing crescents into his palm.
Luhan stands up, pulling out a map Sehun's never seen. He's passed the navigation room a few times and has taken a look at the maps pinned to every inch of wall space, but never has he seen a map like this. It's an old map, torn, yellowed, and burnt at the edges. The drawings are faded, barely legible even in sunlight, but the route is marked clearly on the map. The Fountain of Youth is labeled more clearly than anything else.
"We're making our way down there now-"
"Why would you tell us now?!" Baekhyun stands, enraged, fists curled at his sides. He's ready to charge at the captain but Chen and Kyungsoo are quick to grab Baekhyun by his slacks and pull him back to the ground. They keep him trapped between them, waiting for Baekhyun to diffuse until all he's got left is a nasty glare in Suho's direction.
The captain clears his throat again. "Like I said: don't like the mission? Don't come." And again, Death's Angel goes eerily quiet, a reminder of just how alone they are in the empty expanse of the ocean.
"This mission is extremely dangerous," Suho continues, pacing back and forth on the deck, hands deep in his pockets. "We're all going to have to train from now until we reach port. Tao, you’re in charge of making sure that everyone is trained as best as they can be. Luhan, Lay, Chen, and I will focus on navigation to our last top and to the Fountain. Any questions?"
Sehun feels his stomach roll like the first time he was seasick. He digs his teeth into his bottom lip, looking down at the floorboards of the deck. He isn't ready for this.
Chanyeol notices Sehun's discomfort and places his hand at his lower back discreetly, rubbing in reassurance. It's the same Chanyeol's done for him when he'd caught a virus or went through his first fever aboard Death's Angel. It keeps him calmer, even when Sehun's mind is a whirlwind of confusion.
Suho dismisses them with some final words, soon slipping back into the captain's quarters. "The Fountain promises eternity for those who bathe in its waters. Think hard, crew."
With a grunt, Sehun stands and makes his way to the side of the boat. There's no doubt in his decision. He's going to stay on Death's Angel for as long as he can. The ocean is his home and the crew is his family. There's not a thing that could dissuade him from leaving.
"You're not thinking of getting off, are you?"
Sehun whips his head to find the doctor next to him, back leaning against the side of the boat, turned away from the sea. Minseok looks at him understandingly, eyes soft and smile warm.
"You're strong; you'll be okay." Minseok pats Sehun reassuringly on the back before wandering towards Luhan, who looks to be in a heated conversation with Baekhyun. Just as Baekhyun looks about ready to pull some punches, the argument settles down with Minseok's arrival.
Sehun manages a small smile, confidence growing in the swirling turmoil in his head. He may be Death's Angel's last recruit but there's a reason he's still on the most notorious pirate ship on the sea. Conquering the Fountain of Youth will be no match for Death's Angel's infamous pirate crew.
"Let's get some training in then!" Tao says, boots kicked up on a barrel, polishing his thin sword. "I think Dr. Kim should get a few lessons before our next raid."
The crew had let the information sink in for a night. But in the end, it had been an easy decision for all of them. The blood of brotherhood was thicker than anything.
Minseok purses his lips, hands stuffed in his trouser pockets. "Sure, why not- if you think I can be useful to you."
Fumbling through the weapons chest he'd been perched on, Tao pulls out a wooden sword and tosses it to Minseok, who catches it easily. He goes through a few moves with the doctor, working through technique in a slow spar. Minseok easily catches on, managing to put the sword at Tao's neck in their practice fight with only a few lessons.
"Hey, Sehun!" Tao calls, hands cupped around his mouth. Sehun, startled, feels himself slip a little from the mast.
He steels his grip on the wood, feeling a burn start to build in his fingers. He's still too shaken up to look down just yet. "What do you want, Tao?"
"Come down here and spar with the doctor!"
It's hard to swallow around the lump in his throat. Sure, he could take on Minseok. He's been training the least, and is on a level far below everyone else on the ship (Chanyeol included). But he's sure he's got more skills than someone who's only had a few lessons in such a short period of time.
He makes his way down with sweaty palms, trying to pep-talk himself a surge of confidence. It helps a little, it makes the anxiety swirling in his stomach dull. When he's low enough to the deck, he jumps from the mast, landing a little shakily. Minseok watches him, calculating him, and Sehun feels more nervous and bare under the doctor's stern gaze.
He catches the wooden sword Tao tosses him, nearly dropping it with the sweat accumulating on his palms. Tao lectures him on his stance, thin sword batting at the back of his knees and his bare arms. Minseok stares on in amusement, and Sehun can't help but feel a prickly heat crawl up the back of his neck in embarrassment.
"Are we going to start yet?" he huffs in annoyance, glaring back at Tao who smirks and concedes, kicking back on the weapons chest.
"Fine. You can begin."
Before the last syllable is out of Tao's mouth, Sehun charges, tightening his grip on his sword and swinging. He figures he can catch Minseok off guard and corner him at the mast, sword at his throat. It's six steps away, and Minseok's backing up as he charges, hand loose on his sword. This is it, Sehun thinks. He's got Minseok cornered.
But he doesn't. Sehun miscalculates, starts swinging his sword too far away and Minseok easily evades it. The doctor is short but limber, and he easily evades Sehun's oncoming attacks and blocks with his own sword with skill like he's been using swords for years. In Sehun's surprise, he barely manages to evade an attack aimed for his head, wooden sword swinging so close to his ear that any closer and he might've been knocked unconscious.
The clacking of wood hitting is all Sehun hears, the doctor continuously blocking every attack he tries to land. Minseok is strong, something else Sehun hadn't noticed with his small frame. Sehun blocks the doctor's downward swing with his sword, catching the blade in the middle. He's almost sure he heard his sword splinter.
"Is that all you've got?" Minseok taunts, eyes heated and smirk pulling at his lips. He huffs out a laugh, putting more pressure on their swords until Sehun's sure he hears the wood beginning to crack.
Enraged, Sehun knocks Minseok's sword back and charges, driving a swing up from his left. But Minseok blocks the swing, forcing Sehun stumbling back until he trips on a loose board, falling onto his back.
Sehun loses his breath, eyes blacking out, only for a moment, and that's when Minseok takes his chance. When Sehun makes to grab the sword that had slipped out of his grip in his fall, there's wood chafing against his throat.
"Gotcha."
He doesn't hear the sounds of the crew clapping over the blood rushing in his ears and embarrassment flushing hot through his body. The adrenaline is still burning like fire in his veins, pumping furiously in his chest. He licks his lips nervously, accepting Minseok's outstretched hand, soft unlike his own calloused palms, and levering himself up. He brushes the dust clinging to his trousers, ignoring the way everyone seems to crowd around Minseok, amazed and curious.
When he looks back, he catches Minseok gazing up at him. He hadn't noticed how close they were until Tao claps him on the back hard enough to push him towards the doctor. He hopes the sunburn on his cheeks hides the heat in his face.
"You did a good job, Sehun," Minseok says, hand outstretched for a handshake. Sehun, dumbfounded, doesn't know what to say after shaking the doctor's hand. Thanking him sarcastically for beating him and embarrassing him in front of the crew is what he imagines himself saying, but Minseok's sincere smile stops him from saying anything, feeling like his tongue has swelled in his mouth. Maybe he's a little dehydrated now.
The attention on their spar had dissipated easily enough, especially when Chen and Baekhyun were arguing over which of them would fight Minseok next (Chen wins, pulling the excuse of making sure the new sword he'd bought in the harbor is of high quality for the gold he spent on it). Half the crew sticks around to watch them spar, watches as Chen effortlessly wields his sword and swipes at Minseok, who easily evades. Swipe after swipe, Minseok evades them all, limber body moving with ease and muscles terse under his shirt.
Sehun watches above after he fills Lay's orders of adjusting the sails. Maybe, just maybe, it's the dehydration still at work when he watches Chen's spar and thinks of this own- the way his heart had skipped a beat when Minseok held him down with his sword.
Or maybe he'd simply imagined it.
Minseok turns out to be talented in any weaponry Tao trains him in. Sehun watches from above as Minseok changes from wooden swords to real ones, stepping up the speed of their practice battles until he can hold his own against Tao at his best. When Tao switches up swords, changing Minseok from a broadsword to a cutlass then to a thin sword like himself, the doctor is still able to adjust, only taking a few practices for each to get used to the weaponry.
Even when Tao challenges him with a musket, shooting out practice balls by canon into the ocean, Minseok still proves his talent. It takes a few shots to get used to holding the gun and the recoil after firing, but soon after, Minseok hits almost all the balls tossed out into the sea.
Sehun is still a little jealous. No matter how hard he spars with Tao or Chanyeol, he never seems to be able to hold his own very well. Tao usually manages to knock him off his feet when he's distracted, when his eyes drift for too long at Minseok leaning against the side of the ship, staring out into the ocean. But the awe he has for the doctor far overpowers the jealousy. For someone who's been on the ship only a few weeks, Minseok is a fast learner, smart and adept. He always thinks three steps ahead, knowing when Luhan will pull out the blade in his auto-mail or when Tao will switch to using the long swords on his back. He's limber enough to dodge Lay's quick swipes of his throwing knives and knows how to turn tables in his favor when Baekhyun throws him off by pulling out the whip attached to his side. So far, there isn't a thing that's thrown Minseok off his game.
And even when they've finished sparring, Minseok is sure to briefly check his partner for any injuries and heal up any scratches they get. He treats Chanyeol's sprained wrist with ease when the younger falls back on his hands at an awkward angle. He heals Kyungsoo's burns when the chef scalds himself dumping water out of a boiling pot of potatoes. He adjusts Luhan's prosthetic, tightening bolts and sharpening the blade for when the next raid rolls around.
Sehun keeps training, Tao pushing him to his limits. He repeats moves with his daggers, over and over again until Tao is pleased. Sehun gets the moves and the swings and has worked through plenty of scenarios in his head about how he'll pull out the daggers in a fight, even has gone so far to spend hours at night in his bunk, staring with blank eyes at the bottom of Chanyeol's bunk as he imagines fights, pulling out his daggers with practiced skill. But when it comes down to a fight, he's nearly as weak as he began. It takes Chanyeol fifteen moves to get him pinned, Luhan seven, and Tao four.
He isn't sure what it is, why he feels so useless in a fight. After spending the afternoon working through moves on the boat, Sehun hangs over the side, wood digging painfully into his abdomen as water splashes up in his face, and thinks. The water is clear like any other day sailing out on the ocean. Sehun only wishes his mind were so as well.
"You're scared, aren't you?"
Sehun curses under his breath, having tried to straighten up so fast that his hand smacked against the side of the boat. He tries to shake of the pins prickling under his skin, waiting for the numbness to dissipate.
Minseok looks at him in the eyes, unyielding in his gaze. Sehun feels like fine china on display, letting all his chips and cracks become obvious under curious eyes. He shies away, looking back out onto the sea.
"I'm not scared," he mutters. "I knew what I was going to have to do when I snuck on this boat. There isn't anything I can't do."
The doctor huffs, scuffing his boot against the deck. "If you keep that mentality up, you'll surely be killed."
Sehun almost wishes he had some tobacco because even if he's only tried it twice and hated it every time, at least it would help keep the doctor off his mind. Instead, he can only look down at the water and twiddle his thumbs, hoping his stomach will stop flopping like a fish.
"It's not that easy to kill someone, you know," Minseok starts, staring blankly out at the horizon. The water reflection sparked in the doctor's dark eyes."But once you accept that you have to kill to save the people you love, that's when you become a true fighter."
Even when Sehun gains the courage to face Minseok, the doctor is lost in his thoughts. "You don't gain the courage to kill unless you're truly put in that situation." Minseok faces him, a soft, dull smile on his face. Sehun feels his chest ache a little for the man who seems to have aged years within seconds. "You're young, Sehun, but if you want to get better at fighting then you'll have to realize you're going to have to hurt people."
Sehun startles when Kyungsoo suddenly calls out on deck for dinner. Everyone starts their slow trudge into the dining hall, tired from being out in the sun and training or swabbing the deck. It's his turn to stay out and watch for enemies, so he stays leaned against the boat as Minseok turns away, leaving him with a sad smile and dull eyes.
He glances back into the water, wondering how the water can be so clear and bright when his reflection in it seems even more muddled.
Sehun pushes himself more throughout the week, asking for extra practices with Tao and sneaking up with Chanyeol to spar on deck at night with the moon high in the sky. He battles more and more, taking Minseok's words to heart. If he's going to fight, then he's going to fight for his home.
The sea is calm that day. Death's Angel has been out at sea for nearly two moon cycles now and within the next two, they'll be sure to reach the last port. It's when Baekhyun starts shouting out in the afternoon that the calmness of the day eases away.
"Fire Nation cargo ship off the port side!" he shouts, scaling down the mast with an eager smile on his face. He jumps the last few feet into the chaos of the crew, working to send weights to guard the hold and getting through the weapons chest.
Sehun stands frozen in the chaos, watching as Baekhyun disappears to notify the captain. There, on the horizon, is a black dot floating out on the sea but an obvious flame flag strung high on the sails. It won't be long before Death's Angel catches up under the false pretense of talking.
Suho comes out on deck, crew gathering save for Lay who continues to steer the ship. "I want Luhan, Kyungsoo, Chen, and Chanyeol to stay back on the ship," Suho commands, wielding the pistol in his belt and loading it up. "The rest of you are boarding the ship with me."
Sehun stills, even when Chanyeol gives him a congratulatory pat on the back. He isn't sure what to make of it, that Suho wants him to board this time.
"Wait, you're gonna let the doctor board?" Luhan asks, looking bewildered. Suho looks up from securing his cutlass to his belt, eyebrows raised at Luhan's retort.
"And why not? He's clearly skilled enough to board."
Luhan balls his fists and presses his lips together. He knows better than to question the captain's decisions; there's never been a time Suho has made a decision without good reason to.
The crew bursts back into motion, Luhan going up by Lay to take over piloting the ship, Kyungsoo, Chen, and Chanyeol leaving to set up a barricade for the hold, and the crew going aboard warming up with their weapons of choice. Sehun waits for the crew to dissipate until the captain is alone. Sehun approaches him warily. Even if he towers over Suho, the captain's shadow is even more menacing and confident than him.
"Captain Suho, am I really boarding?" he asks, hoping he's hiding his timidness well. Not that he isn't eager to board, but he's never done it yet. If they had to send anyone out of the usual group, it was always Chanyeol
Suho looks up, pausing for a moment before he smiles sympathetically. "I know you can do it, Sehun." He gently lays his hand on Sehun's shoulder, squeezing lightly. "I know you've come up here with Chanyeol to train, I know you've been working hard, and I know that this will be good for you."
Sehun swallows thickly, swiping his sweaty hands on his shirt. He almost doesn't want to say anymore, save whatever semblance of dignity and pride he has left, but his mouth moves of its own accord. "But what if I screw up?"
"Who doesn't?" Suho cuts, patting Sehun on the back before heading back to find Minseok. "Just remember, we're a team. We'll protect you, just as you would do for us."
Sehun's sigh drowns out the clanking of swords and thudding of feet padding against the deck. The Fire Nation ship looms ever closer with each passing minute and he's almost sure he'll vomit over the side of the boat, nerves swirling like a hurricane in his chest. Chanyeol has that stupid trick when Sehun panics, and he always says it's dumb and teases his friend, but he figures now would be a good time as any to try it. He holds his breath, closes his eyes, and imagines everyone-
"You'll do great!" Chanyeol booms, slapping Sehun hard enough that he careens to the side of the boat. He lets out the breath he was holding in. Now frustrated, he puts Chanyeol in a headlock, locking his arms until Chanyeol barely breathes out 'mercy'.
"Geez, Sehun, go easy on me." But Chanyeol grins and ruffles his sweaty hair and Sehun knows that Chanyeol isn't bothered in the least. "But don't you feel a little better?"
Sehun does, though he wouldn't admit it. He brushes Chanyeol off with a huff, striding towards the canons being prepared to fire, his friend hot on his heels.
"It didn't do a thing. I've been ready for this since I was born," he gloats. If it were anyone other than Chanyeol, they may have been fooled. Chanyeol, however, isn't.
"You just come back alive with all your limbs intact," his friend whispers, immediately turning heel for the hold and running in. Sehun just stands dumbly, hoping his mouth isn't gaping like a fish.
But he doesn't have much time to think. "We're starting the canon fire!" Baekhyun calls out, manning a canon with Tao at his side, canon ball in his hand and being loaded in. Lay and, surprisingly, Minseok step up to man the last two canons, preloaded and ready to fire.
Suho takes the canon behind Lay, and Sehun is left to assist Minseok. The ship is much closer now, and an eerie silence falls upon their boat. The water lapping against the boat is as loud as a foghorn, blaring in the thickening tension. Sehun swallows around the lump in his throat, hoping he can keep his heart down.
Minseok gives him a reassuring smile, and Sehun's heart calms down enough for him to smile back.
The captain raises his sword, a fiery glare in his eyes. This is the captain of Death's Angel, Sehun thinks. Suho's name is notorious. There isn't a market stall that doesn't know of Suho's quest for the Moonstone or a child that can't recite the tale of Death's Angel's quest through the jungles of the Earth Nation in search of the Sun Temple. Many tales are just rumors, Sehun had come to find out within days of being on the ship, but the heroism and leadership attributed to Suho's name isn't. Suho is the most feared pirate captain on the ocean.
Suho's sword wavers in the air with the wind. He swings the cutlass down, pure silver slicing through the air with a whoosh. A smirk tugs at his lips and death drips from his words.
"Fire!"
The canons are off, one by one in succession until the shouts from the Fire Nation can be heard. All their canons are aimed to miss, each round of fire landing within centimeters of the boat. Three rounds of firing and the Fire Nation raises their second flag.
Chen raises the Fire Nation flag they'd stolen from another ship. "We're ready for boarding, captain," he calls, smirking eagerly. Suho nods, bringing his gaze back to the cargo ship. "Luhan, bring us in!"
Luhan steers the boat over, riding on the currents far too quickly for Sehun to keep up. His palm is sweaty on the hilt of his sword, leaving black, wet smudges when he lifts his hand to wipe on his shirt. The dagger in his boot feels like it weighs a barrel of potatoes and the sun beating down on his back feels like he's stepped into Satan's innermost prison of hellfire.
Death's Angel draws close enough to the cargo ship that Sehun can see their faces. But what catches his eyes amidst the scarred sailors with defined muscles and years of experience under their belts is the boys. The young swabbers with thin arms and sunken eyes, looking spindly amongst the bulky men next to them. A few look as fearful as he feels, a few more have their fists curled at their sides and a fierce furrow in their brows.
They look ready for talks when Baekhyun pulls out his musket and fires into the crowd. "If you don't surrender your ship in peace, we'll take everything by force!" he shouts.
The first mouth that opens in protest is shot down, the sound of gunpowder echoing amongst the ocean. The cargo ship crew goes into a frenzy, panic running through their veins as each scrabbles for a weapon, wrestling with their crew mates for the better one. Baekhyun and Tao keep firing muskets, Lay soon joining in and one by one, a few men go down.
"Are we set to board?" Suho shouts amongst the chaos. Sehun watches as the boarding plank is set between the ships, Tao working to shoot back those who approach the board from the other side.
"We're set!"
And they're slowly boarding, Baekhyun and Tao leading the way over with Lay bringing up the rear. A man comes rushing at Minseok with blind rage in his eyes. Sehun's feet lock in place when Minseok swings up to block the attacker, pushing the sailor back with each blow of his sword until the man is down on his knees with fear in his eyes.
When Sehun glances back up, he's standing alone in the midst of the skirmish, the boarding plank back to their ship already put away.
The air slices next to his ear and his eyes meet up with a sailor older than him with confidence in his shoulders. Sehun catches the downswing of the sailor's blade with his cutlass, exhaling nerves as the blade shimmers too close to his face. Adrenaline starts to pump through his veins when he knocks his attacker back, wielding out his dagger and taking a swipe at the sailor's side. He cringes as the blade cuts through human skin, the agonizing scream ringing in his head. In fear, he pulls out the blade and wobbles back on shaky legs but doesn't have much time to think before another attacker is on him, a man much bulkier than the last.
He isn't so lucky to dodge a few swipes, the sailor's thin sword cutting through the sleeve of his left arm and the tip of the blade catching him in a slice across his right cheek. He winces when the blade cuts more than a little shallow at his left calf but manages to push the man back with a swipe of his dagger at the man's shoulder. Blood gushes from the wound and Sehun's ears ring with another painful howl as the man staggers to the ground, clutching at his red stained shirt as the blood spills out from underneath his hand.
"Sehun, watch it!"
He finds himself falling back with a push to his chest, watching as a blade comes down, aimed right for his head. It stops midair as he falls back, breath knocked right out of his lungs.
Minseok knocks the sword out of the man's hand, pinning the sailor down with a blade to his neck. "Sehun, are you alright?" he calls out, a shine in his eyes that's begging for Sehun to get up again.
Sehun nods, scrambling to get his cutlass. He catches a blur in the corner of his eye and automatically, his arm swings out with the sword. The man rushing towards Minseok stumbles back in the face of the sword, quickly changing his direction and aiming for Sehun. He manages to take the sailor out in ten swipes.
He chances a glance around the boat, survey the damage, and things are fairly calm now. The Fire Nation crew is being rounded up, muskets pointed at their heads if they so much as move. Blood paints the deck. He looks down at his hand, shakily gripping the hilt of his sword, to find it blood stained and sticky.
"Do you have anyone down in your hold!" Baekhyun shouts, musket knocking the head of the captain. The man shakes his head, teeth grinding in anger.
"He's right. Let's move it out," Suho exclaims when he comes up from the hold, proud smile on his face. Sehun and Minseok help round up the last few guys on the ship before following Suho and Lay down into the hold.
He comes back up with arms of food and gunpowder- that's all a cargo ship this size ever carries. They pocket any of the gold pieces they find, packing away stashes in the food barrels and then hoist them all back to Death's Angel. Sehun can't help but see red no matter where he looks, but he forgets the hue in the face of Chanyeol's bright smile.
"Good job, Sehunnie," Chanyeol says when he pulls the younger off to the side when the cargo has been loaded, Fire Nation ship long out of sight. Sehun pulls Chanyeol's ears, threatening to call him like a kid again, but if even if he wouldn't admit it, it's nice to have his friend dote on him.
Sehun looks down to his blood stained hands as they hover over a pail of water. The blood comes off with a few scrubs, and his hands come out as clean as they had been before.
When night rolls around, the alcohol is once again brought out in celebration of a successful raid. Bottles and cups of rum and vodka are shoved in Sehun's face, and after the first he doesn't remember when he stops. Suho isn't there at the table and neither is Minseok, but no one even notices with the pleasant buzz in the air.
When Sehun knows he needs a break, he blindly grabs a bottle of beer and stumbles up to the deck. That's where he finds Minseok, leaning against the mast as he looks out into the ocean.
"I can take you up, if you'd like," is what Sehun thinks he coolly says, but it comes out as drunken mumbles and twisted words. He flushes in the cool summer air.
Minseok smiles. "I could get up there myself if I really wanted," he says before he scales the mast like he's been doing it for longer than Sehun has, coming to rest at the bar of the lowest sail.
Sehun hopes his mouth isn't hanging open dumbly, but he tries to follow up anyway. He beer bottle slips from his grip and his feet slip on the wood more than once, and luckily Minseok is holding on to steady him when he nearly falls at the bar the medic is sitting on. With some amount of drunken, dumb luck, he manages to steady himself enough to sit there with Minseok in the summer night.
Sehun doesn't mind that Minseok doesn't speak, he's too drunk anyway to talk himself. His mind flashes back to Minseok stepping in to save him, taking on multiple attackers at once. The jealousy swirls a little in his stomach, but he's still just as proud to have watched. Just as happy to watch Minseok shine.
The night passes easily, and he isn't sure when he falls asleep because all he knows is that he wakes up with a pounding headache in his own bed, his chest a little hollow when he falls from his bunk.
Sehun boards two more cargo ships, a Water Nation and another Fire Nation ship. Suho never sticks around when they come back from a raid. Minseok is always right on Suho's heels it seems. But each time he boards with Minseok, the medic gets him out of a tough spot, and each time afterwards, Minseok is there to disinfect his scratches and take care of some of the older ones. Delicate, smooth hands press against his face as Minseok wipes at gashes with disinfecting cloths and presses a new, dry cloth over the old patches. Sometimes his heart rate picks up when Minseok leans in close, warm breath fanning against his cheek. He figures it's just a side effect of the disinfectant or hunger or anything.
It's not admiration or love, Sehun tries to convince himself. Definitely not.
There's a clingy heat in the air, an odd feeling that sinks down on everyone's shoulders. Sehun knows everyone feels it- the sticky heat that signals an oncoming thunderstorm. The heat is not too overbearing, so Sehun doesn't think much of it.
The day is spent between preparations, the majority of the crew securing everything in the hold as best as they can while the navigation team stays hunched over maps and barometers, double and triple checking their calculations for the storm.
"We can't be sure of the exact size of the storm," Lay announces, folding the parchment of calculations and securing it in the chest. "We'll just have to take all the precautions we can."
There isn't a cloud in the distance- not a single obstruction in the sky, sun shining down on them unhindered. Sometimes, these machines are wrong. The barometers have been wrong before.
Maybe it'll be wrong this time too.
Lay's calculations are not wrong.
Within two days, night falls with dark clouds overhanging the ship. The water is rough, waves tipping the boat around, playing with the ship as if a mere child's toy. The crew is in a rush to secure as much as they can before the storm hits.
The rain then comes. It starts off with light rain that dampens the deck. Sehun manages to slip once trying to climb up the mast, Minseok picking him up with a timid smile and concerned eyes. Sehun tells him not to worry, but he knows it'll only get worse.
Within minutes the rain pours torrentially, wind picking up and knocking the boat around. Everything on the deck is secured and Luhan and Lay are trying to steer the boat out of the storm, but the wind continues to pick up. The wind grows more ferocious in minutes and Sehun can barely see his hand in front of his face in between the pouring rain and the way the ship tilts and sways in the water.
"Captain!" Lay shouts from the upper deck, knuckles white gripped on the steer. "The storm is only going to get worse from here!"
Suho purses his lips, making his way to the upper level of the deck. "Keep steering! We're gonna push through this storm! Crew, we're pushing through!"
And the storm does get worse. Sehun can barely see two feet out in front of him and he's soaked to the bone, teeth chattering enough to feel like it's knocking his brain around. He'd never been one to stand up easily to the elements, and being on the ship has proven to be no exception.
A particularly strong wave knocks the boat to the side and Sehun slips on the deck, feeling himself slide against the wood until a hand grabs the back of his shirt and hoists him steady. It's Minseok gripping his shirt, teeth grit as he struggles to pull him back up. With combined effort, Sehun manages to get up and find a better place to stand, ignoring the scratches from the wood that had dug into his back.
The wind picks up along with the shouting. Everyone's shouting on the deck, barking orders and curses as they tip from side to side. Sehun can barely think above the noise and he finds himself sneaking away, Minseok somehow pressed close into his side.
He hears it first, the subtle sound of wood splintering admits the ruckus. He searches frantically, trying to find where the wood is breaking but he can't see a thing in the storm.
"The sail, captain!"
Sehun looks up in time to find the sails unfurling from the mast. They're still hinged by the pole but every sail on the second mast has come undone, the ropes flying out in the wind.
He's already out on deck, trying to hold his balance when Suho orders him to tie up the sails. He makes it to the mast with no problems, but climbing is significantly more difficult with rain blurring his vision and the wood under his palms more difficult to grasp. He doesn't dare to look down.
He climbs up to the outcrop with the loose sail, gripping the mast with all the force in his hands. His legs tremble as he tries to walk out and reach the loose end of the sail. Someone shouts 'Be careful!' behind him, but it's hard to hear anything over the roar of the wind.
The panic in his chest eases a little when he manages to grab the end of the sail. But it still requires him to climb out to the end of the outcrop to tie the sail at the very end.
He takes two sidesteps, one hand still gripping on the mast.
He takes two more sidesteps, praying that the wind will ease enough for him to reach the end.
He takes two sidesteps and he's reached the end, exhaling nerves. His cold fingers don't want to cooperate, as he sits on the gaff and tries to tie the knot. 'Come on, come on, come on!' he screams at himself, wiping rain from his eyes as he continues to tie the knot around the wet wood. The rope keeps slipping, the wind keeps trying to knock him back but there's no way he's quitting this until the rope is tied. There's no way the ship can sail otherwise.
Everyone is depending on him.
Finally, he gets the rope tied and secured. He checks the knot five times just to be sure. He looks up at the sail and finds that the upper half is swung out a little far, but the wind will realign the sails.
He steadies himself on the sail fabric as he stands back up, clutching tighter when the wind blows harder. He mistakenly closes his eyes.
"Sehun! Watch for the gaff above you!"
He's too late to move because the upper half of the mast is already swinging straight at him. He stumbles back to the end of the wood but he doesn't have any time to react when the wood comes swinging right at him, pointed end of the gaff slicing through the skin of his upper chest completely. From shoulder to shoulder, the skin rips through his damp clothes. Blood pours out onto his shirt and before Sehun realizes where the wood under his feet has gone, he lands on the deck on his back.
The breath is knocked right out of his lungs and his vision blackens as he lies there in pain, searing in his chest and knocking in his head. For a moment, he doubts anyone would come to help him.
Because even in new clothes in a new setting, he's still a street kid- a street rat. And no one ever helps them.
next →
Recipient: gollumpanties
Pairing(s): Xiumin/Sehun, minor!Chanyeol/Kyungsoo
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: violence, mild gore
Word count: 25.4k
Summary: Their quest for the Fountain of Youth could very well be their last as the crew of Death's Angel (pirate!au).
Death's Angel had been docked at harbor for over two moon cycles. Sehun's lost count of the days, he hasn't really kept up; but for him, it's been far too long being tied to the land. He's never liked the land as much as he's loved being on the ocean, far away from grimy streets and toxic alleys. Whereas living on land only brought him bad memories of empty stomachs and weak bones, ready to collapse from use at the end of every day, the sea was Sehun's home. The sea is Sehun's addiction now, the salt water and sense of adventure like a drug and he had been hooked from his first step aboard Death's Angel.
He'd been sent out to scout around the market for new deals on food since they'd be heading off soon. And now that his job was done, he had a bit of time to himself. Time in this Water Nation town passes at snail's pace, he thinks. Day in and day out it was the same, and he'd become desperate for escape from the cycle once more.
He doesn't really care where he goes now, everyone is off finishing their own duties on harbor, but he finds himself wandering towards the docks. He takes a seat at the edge, popping a few buttons from his shirt and sliding off his boots, taking care that the extra dagger he keeps there wouldn't slip out. The ocean water is warm for mid-morning, and the heat's only going to get worse for the day.
"Hey, Sehun!" Chanyeol calls out, making his way to the dock with three full sacks of potatoes in his arms. He takes care not to damage the food when he drops the sacks with a huff. He stretches like a cat with long arms pulled high over his head and back arched until it pops. Chanyeol slides his shoes off and takes a seat next to Sehun, immediately kicking his feet in the water and watching the small water ripples fade out. "Did you hear? We might be heading back out within the week. We've got a few more supplies to get and then I think we'll be off."
Sehun finds himself smiling, heart thumping with the building adrenaline like the first time they'd ever set foot on a pirate ship. He and Chanyeol had been friends before they'd joined Death's Angel together. Chanyeol had been the one to convince him to run away, to give up his life as a street kid and try for the sea. His new life is better than he could've imagined then.
Of course, he would've never reached this point if it hadn't been for the captain. When they'd been caught aboard the ship, Death's Angel had already sailed hundreds of meters away from the harbor, it was Captain Suho who decided they'd be put on a trial run- that if they could truly do the work of living on a pirate ship, then they could stay. Any other captain would've thrown them off the ship immediately.
"Did Luhan finish his auto-mail checkup?" he asks, kicking a bit of water at Chanyeol's leg. Chanyeol doesn't even bat an eye.
"I think he went this morning, but when I saw Lay later, he said Luhan's checkup had gone well. His prosthetic didn't need any repairs and they even had to extend his leg a little." Chanyeol flops back on the boardwalk, squinting from the harsh glare of the sun in his eyes. Sehun remembers when they were kids doing the same, when they were both toothpick thin and almost ghost white from hiding in shaded ally corners with empty stomachs. He shudders, even in the heat of summer.
Now, they're almost tanned from hours out in the sun, Sehun working up by the sails and Chanyeol working on repairs at the side of the ship. They're fuller from the food they've stolen from other Water Nation ships and have more change in their pockets from the loot they've taken. They aren't the same scrawny street kids anymore.
Sehun lays back on the dock, closing his eyes for a brief minute. But he can't keep still. His toes are still splashing the water, his fingers wind themselves in the thin fabric of his shirt. He wants to be out on the sea; he feels like it's pulling him in, where the salty wind whips against his face and the air is clean of cigar smoke and grime from the streets.
Time passes far too slowly for Sehun, but eventually Chanyeol gets up and slips his boots back on. "Come on, I'll race you back to the ship."
Sehun laughs, tugging on his boots and double checking that the dagger is secure. "Only if you carry two bags of potatoes," he says, grabbing a sack and hoisting it over his shoulder.
He knows Chanyeol will still beat him anyway. But once Death's Angel comes into view, Sehun grinds his teeth and pushes through the steady burn in his legs and his lungs to make it to the ship faster.
Dinner that night, just like every night, is a mess of noise and food with everyone trying to talk over one another and rum sloshing from the sides of every cup. Sehun gets his hair mussed by almost everyone as he's mockingly coddled and good-naturedly (but painfully) punched in the arm as jokes are told around the table. The noise keeps him distracted until night falls. As much as Sehun enjoys Baekhyun's shouting across the table and Chen clumsily knocking over cups and plates to the floor when he's drunk, he enjoys enough quiet to hear himself think. The wait for nightfall is agonizingly longer in the middle of the summer, but the clear night skies and the cool sea breeze are worth it.
He grabs one of the older apples from the kitchen, the batch is bound to be rotten soon enough, and he heads out to the deck. He climbs up the mast with the apple caught in his teeth, feeling his muscles burn with disuse as he makes it to the lowest branch of the mast. He hasn't taken a fall from the sails yet, but he isn't willing for tonight to be the first.
Four more days at the harbor, that's what Luhan had promised. Sehun could wait four days- he'd waited twenty years for a chance to get out of his hometown. Four days were nothing. At least the stars were nice in the harbor. Clear night skies were the best when the wind was a little cold but still tasted like salt in his mouth and clung to his skin. The smell of the sea wrapped around him like a blanket, all the more comforting.
Sehun wasn't really sure what Suho was after, that's something only the first few of Death's Angel's crew really knew, but it didn't matter to him. Suho trusted his crew; he'd tell them in good time.
He takes a bite from his apple, feeling the sturdy apple disintegrate to mush on his tongue. Just four more days and he'd be home.
Two days before they set off, the captain calls them for a meeting on deck after dinner. Normally, it's Luhan's job to call the meeting and delegate tasks for set off as he's the quarter master. Sehun figures it must be something important.
"What do you think the captain wants?" Tao asks, plopping down next to Sehun on the deck and slotting into his side.
"Who knows," Chanyeol groans, head heavy in Sehun's lap and body sprawled out on the wood. "I hope it's that he's got some chocolate- and not that bittersweet cheap crap they sell at the market."
Chanyeol groans when Chen comes by, kicking at his calf. "We all know you're hiding a stash underneath your bunk, Chanyeol," he smirks, high-fiving Tao as he takes a seat. Chanyeol looks comically mortified, hurriedly trying to push off of Sehun to make for his stash when Luhan catches him by the collar and tosses him back.
"The meeting's about to start, kid," Luhan chides, walking up to the front of the cluster of people on deck with a slight limp in his step. He must be still getting used to the prosthetic, Sehun muses. Luhan had spent almost all his time at harbor fixing and trying new auto-mail prosthetics. The rumor Sehun and Chanyeol had been told their first week aboard the ship was that Luhan had his leg amputated in the midst of a battle when a canon backlash caught his foot, but he still continued to work, firing the canon and commanding the fire power despite the pain. It turned out that during a trek in the jungles of the Earth Nation, Luhan had been poisoned by a bite to his calf and his leg couldn't be saved in time before the necrosis took over.
Kyungsoo is the last to show up on deck, having been the last to leave the dining hall after cleaning up everyone's mess. The chef was probably the neatest person on the ship, hoping to stave off infections from the kitchen as much as possible. The rest of the crew were slobs in comparison, Sehun included.
They wait a little in stale silence until Suho calls out to let down the boarding platform. It takes Chen, Tao, and Chanyeol combined to lower the platform down, being careful to hold it in place as Suho climbs aboard with a man in tow.
"Ah, Minseok!" Luhan exclaims from his perch on a spare crate. "I didn't think the captain would actually convince you."
The rest of the crew members look on in confusion. Sehun watches as Minseok settles next to Suho, hands clenched behind his back and a slight smile curling at the edges of his lips. Minseok is about as tall as the captain, clad in slacks and a thin shirt. His brown bangs are plastered to his forehead from the summer heat making him sweat. And even though it's dark, Sehun can see the shine in Minseok's brown eyes. He isn't sure why his heart stops for a moment.
Suho clears his throat and adjusts his hat. "Crew, I'd like you all to welcome Doctor Kim. He'll be our medic aboard for the next journey.
"You're the guy who fixes Luhan's prosthetic, aren't you?" Lay exclaims. Dr. Kim nods, shyly fisting the hem of his shirt.
"Dr. Kim works as both an auto-mail mechanic and a medic," the captain says, pacing in front of the group. "Death's Angel is going to be starting a new journey, and we'll need a capable medic this time around."
The statement is followed by hoots and hollers from the entire crew as introductions are made, immediately followed by patting the doctor on the back and trying to convince Suho that alcohol is desperately needed now in celebration. While normally Suho is strict about alcohol outside dining hours, he concedes and a few bottles are pulled out from the stock. They can easily be replaced tomorrow.
Sehun slips into the background- it's easy when everyone attention is on their new recruit. It's nice to watch things from a distance, the way the doctor's smile still shines bright and warm like sun rays. A healthy flush makes its way to Minseok's cheeks after downing a bit of beer and the embarrassment with everyone's interest in him.
Sehun watches from afar like he watches the stars at night. And yet, watching the stars doesn't give him the same thrum of adrenaline under his skin, pulsing through his head and drumming in his chest.
While Sehun spends the late afternoon up in the sails, double checking that ropes are tied, noting which sails will be unfurled tomorrow, and looking for damages to the aged wood of the masts to avoid the strong summer heat, Chanyeol and Chen are sent into town to fetch the doctor's belongings. Minseok is nowhere to be seen the entire day, and Sehun figures he is in town gathering some last supplies.
By sunset, Chanyeol is dragging two of Minseok's trunks up the boarding plank with Chen steadying it from the bottom and finally bringing up the last. Sehun watches as the two struggle to drag the trunks into the dorm rooms. It had already been decided that Minseok would take a room to himself, next to the captain's quarters, and Baekhyun would be moving into the spare bunk in Lay's room. The last shares of the food have been brought during the day and are secured in the hold. The navigation team has run multiple checks on their course set for tomorrow, reading the weather patterns to ensure sailing out on a sunny day with plenty of wind.
Sehun watches as Minseok hops aboard the ship last, long after the sun is set, with an extra bag in hand. Odd, he thinks, for a man as serious about his job as Minseok seems, his bag explains something different. Off the handle hangs a yellow star shaped charm, formed as if by a child.
Minseok doesn't notice him, slipping easily into the main corridor of the dorms. When the door shuts, Sehun feels the full force of the icy night wind sink under his skin. He shivers, eating the core of his apple in silence, spitting out the seeds before tossing it into the ocean, imagining that under the inky darkness of the night, the fish all scramble for what pieces of apple they can take.
Four days out of the harbor and Sehun couldn't have felt better. The sea is a sparkling blue, clear enough to see the fish swimming around the boat underneath. They've had nothing but clear skies and continuous summer wind currents, keeping him busy climbing through the masts to adjust the sails. The sailing is calm enough, so he's usually the only one up on the gaffs unless Baekhyun is called up to help with the second mast.
Sehun spends all his time up in the masts, only coming down for food and sleep. On the third day, he takes his lunch of bread and cheese up to the highest gaff, watching the rest of the crew from above. Death's Angel isn't the biggest ship on the sea, but the masts are tall enough for Sehun to feel like he's looking at ants on the deck instead of the crew.
Minseok is often in and out of the dorms. He never stays out on the deck for too long, only watching the crew members work for a moment, chatting a few times with Luhan or Lay, before diving back into the dorms. Sehun often catches Minseok unpacking medicines and tools in his room or slipping into the captain's room at night. He wonders if Minseok is truly bored, if the doctor enjoys watching the empty sea and tending to any of the small injuries that happen aboard. Sehun would be bored out of his mind if he were in Minseok's place.
Suho calls them in for a meeting on the afternoon of the eighth day. Sehun slides down the mast, sweat clinging to his shirt and gluing the fabric to his skin. Chen, Baekhyun, and Chanyeol are in a similar state to himself, sweating through their clothes (Chanyeol has already shed his shirt). Kyungsoo, Tao, Luhan, and Lay all look unfazed, like spending hours in the sweltering sun hadn't affected them in the slightest.
Chanyeol sighs loudly, leaning against Sehun's shoulder and squinting at the sun. "I bet he's gonna make us clean the ship," he whispers. They both groan just thinking about cleaning the ship. Suho's a stickler for cleaning the corners and nooks and Sehun's pretty sure there are other things he could do on the ship than clean.
Luhan clears his throat, startling the two. "I should just make you two clean the ship alone," he says with a smirk, taking his seat on a crate.
Chanyeol groans even louder in annoyance flopping on his back. "Luhan," he whines, "are we really going to clean the ship?"
"Nope, no cleaning today." Chanyeol immediately straightens up at the captain's voice, heat rising to his cheeks in embarrassment.
Suho mentally counts the crew members, noting everyone is here with a subtle smile. Minseok follows behind Suho, taking a seat towards the back of the crowd, a healthy red sunburn on his cheeks and the collar of his shirt damp from sweat. Sehun feels a little bad; the doctor doesn't do much on the ship but suffers the sunburn and sweat like everyone else.
"Crew, I'd like to announce what may be Death's Angel's final quest," Suho begins, voice a little somber but his eyes lighting in mirth. Sehun's gaze meets Chanyeol's in panic. The blood runs cold in his veins.
Even Chen looks bewildered. "Final quest?! But, captain-"
"Chen, don't interrupt me," the captain sternly chastises, and that's enough for Chen to cut off his sentence and fist his shirt in his palms. "We're going to find the Fountain of Youth."
The ship goes unnaturally silent, not even Chen has a snarky comment or anything at all to say. Sehun feels a little hollow, like the wind could blow the husk of his body into the ocean.
Suho clears his throat and continues. "For those of you that don't want to participate, there's one final Earth Nation harbor we'll stop at to pick up a few more supplies. You can leave there."
Again, no one on the ship says a word, moves a muscle, barely breathes. Suho scuffs his boot against the deck and smiles.
"The Fountain of Youth is on an island hidden amongst the mist off the coast of the Earth Nation. There are two obstacles guarding the Fountain if you make it through the mist: Kai and the Undead Pirates and a beast named Dark Thorn."
Sehun freezes, lips pressed so tightly together that his teeth feel ready to break through the tissue. He isn't ready to go back to the streets. Even with the little money he's got saved from his share of raiding ships, it isn't enough to keep him going for long. His fingertips are ice cold, locked in his skin, nails pressing crescents into his palm.
Luhan stands up, pulling out a map Sehun's never seen. He's passed the navigation room a few times and has taken a look at the maps pinned to every inch of wall space, but never has he seen a map like this. It's an old map, torn, yellowed, and burnt at the edges. The drawings are faded, barely legible even in sunlight, but the route is marked clearly on the map. The Fountain of Youth is labeled more clearly than anything else.
"We're making our way down there now-"
"Why would you tell us now?!" Baekhyun stands, enraged, fists curled at his sides. He's ready to charge at the captain but Chen and Kyungsoo are quick to grab Baekhyun by his slacks and pull him back to the ground. They keep him trapped between them, waiting for Baekhyun to diffuse until all he's got left is a nasty glare in Suho's direction.
The captain clears his throat again. "Like I said: don't like the mission? Don't come." And again, Death's Angel goes eerily quiet, a reminder of just how alone they are in the empty expanse of the ocean.
"This mission is extremely dangerous," Suho continues, pacing back and forth on the deck, hands deep in his pockets. "We're all going to have to train from now until we reach port. Tao, you’re in charge of making sure that everyone is trained as best as they can be. Luhan, Lay, Chen, and I will focus on navigation to our last top and to the Fountain. Any questions?"
Sehun feels his stomach roll like the first time he was seasick. He digs his teeth into his bottom lip, looking down at the floorboards of the deck. He isn't ready for this.
Chanyeol notices Sehun's discomfort and places his hand at his lower back discreetly, rubbing in reassurance. It's the same Chanyeol's done for him when he'd caught a virus or went through his first fever aboard Death's Angel. It keeps him calmer, even when Sehun's mind is a whirlwind of confusion.
Suho dismisses them with some final words, soon slipping back into the captain's quarters. "The Fountain promises eternity for those who bathe in its waters. Think hard, crew."
With a grunt, Sehun stands and makes his way to the side of the boat. There's no doubt in his decision. He's going to stay on Death's Angel for as long as he can. The ocean is his home and the crew is his family. There's not a thing that could dissuade him from leaving.
"You're not thinking of getting off, are you?"
Sehun whips his head to find the doctor next to him, back leaning against the side of the boat, turned away from the sea. Minseok looks at him understandingly, eyes soft and smile warm.
"You're strong; you'll be okay." Minseok pats Sehun reassuringly on the back before wandering towards Luhan, who looks to be in a heated conversation with Baekhyun. Just as Baekhyun looks about ready to pull some punches, the argument settles down with Minseok's arrival.
Sehun manages a small smile, confidence growing in the swirling turmoil in his head. He may be Death's Angel's last recruit but there's a reason he's still on the most notorious pirate ship on the sea. Conquering the Fountain of Youth will be no match for Death's Angel's infamous pirate crew.
"Let's get some training in then!" Tao says, boots kicked up on a barrel, polishing his thin sword. "I think Dr. Kim should get a few lessons before our next raid."
The crew had let the information sink in for a night. But in the end, it had been an easy decision for all of them. The blood of brotherhood was thicker than anything.
Minseok purses his lips, hands stuffed in his trouser pockets. "Sure, why not- if you think I can be useful to you."
Fumbling through the weapons chest he'd been perched on, Tao pulls out a wooden sword and tosses it to Minseok, who catches it easily. He goes through a few moves with the doctor, working through technique in a slow spar. Minseok easily catches on, managing to put the sword at Tao's neck in their practice fight with only a few lessons.
"Hey, Sehun!" Tao calls, hands cupped around his mouth. Sehun, startled, feels himself slip a little from the mast.
He steels his grip on the wood, feeling a burn start to build in his fingers. He's still too shaken up to look down just yet. "What do you want, Tao?"
"Come down here and spar with the doctor!"
It's hard to swallow around the lump in his throat. Sure, he could take on Minseok. He's been training the least, and is on a level far below everyone else on the ship (Chanyeol included). But he's sure he's got more skills than someone who's only had a few lessons in such a short period of time.
He makes his way down with sweaty palms, trying to pep-talk himself a surge of confidence. It helps a little, it makes the anxiety swirling in his stomach dull. When he's low enough to the deck, he jumps from the mast, landing a little shakily. Minseok watches him, calculating him, and Sehun feels more nervous and bare under the doctor's stern gaze.
He catches the wooden sword Tao tosses him, nearly dropping it with the sweat accumulating on his palms. Tao lectures him on his stance, thin sword batting at the back of his knees and his bare arms. Minseok stares on in amusement, and Sehun can't help but feel a prickly heat crawl up the back of his neck in embarrassment.
"Are we going to start yet?" he huffs in annoyance, glaring back at Tao who smirks and concedes, kicking back on the weapons chest.
"Fine. You can begin."
Before the last syllable is out of Tao's mouth, Sehun charges, tightening his grip on his sword and swinging. He figures he can catch Minseok off guard and corner him at the mast, sword at his throat. It's six steps away, and Minseok's backing up as he charges, hand loose on his sword. This is it, Sehun thinks. He's got Minseok cornered.
But he doesn't. Sehun miscalculates, starts swinging his sword too far away and Minseok easily evades it. The doctor is short but limber, and he easily evades Sehun's oncoming attacks and blocks with his own sword with skill like he's been using swords for years. In Sehun's surprise, he barely manages to evade an attack aimed for his head, wooden sword swinging so close to his ear that any closer and he might've been knocked unconscious.
The clacking of wood hitting is all Sehun hears, the doctor continuously blocking every attack he tries to land. Minseok is strong, something else Sehun hadn't noticed with his small frame. Sehun blocks the doctor's downward swing with his sword, catching the blade in the middle. He's almost sure he heard his sword splinter.
"Is that all you've got?" Minseok taunts, eyes heated and smirk pulling at his lips. He huffs out a laugh, putting more pressure on their swords until Sehun's sure he hears the wood beginning to crack.
Enraged, Sehun knocks Minseok's sword back and charges, driving a swing up from his left. But Minseok blocks the swing, forcing Sehun stumbling back until he trips on a loose board, falling onto his back.
Sehun loses his breath, eyes blacking out, only for a moment, and that's when Minseok takes his chance. When Sehun makes to grab the sword that had slipped out of his grip in his fall, there's wood chafing against his throat.
"Gotcha."
He doesn't hear the sounds of the crew clapping over the blood rushing in his ears and embarrassment flushing hot through his body. The adrenaline is still burning like fire in his veins, pumping furiously in his chest. He licks his lips nervously, accepting Minseok's outstretched hand, soft unlike his own calloused palms, and levering himself up. He brushes the dust clinging to his trousers, ignoring the way everyone seems to crowd around Minseok, amazed and curious.
When he looks back, he catches Minseok gazing up at him. He hadn't noticed how close they were until Tao claps him on the back hard enough to push him towards the doctor. He hopes the sunburn on his cheeks hides the heat in his face.
"You did a good job, Sehun," Minseok says, hand outstretched for a handshake. Sehun, dumbfounded, doesn't know what to say after shaking the doctor's hand. Thanking him sarcastically for beating him and embarrassing him in front of the crew is what he imagines himself saying, but Minseok's sincere smile stops him from saying anything, feeling like his tongue has swelled in his mouth. Maybe he's a little dehydrated now.
The attention on their spar had dissipated easily enough, especially when Chen and Baekhyun were arguing over which of them would fight Minseok next (Chen wins, pulling the excuse of making sure the new sword he'd bought in the harbor is of high quality for the gold he spent on it). Half the crew sticks around to watch them spar, watches as Chen effortlessly wields his sword and swipes at Minseok, who easily evades. Swipe after swipe, Minseok evades them all, limber body moving with ease and muscles terse under his shirt.
Sehun watches above after he fills Lay's orders of adjusting the sails. Maybe, just maybe, it's the dehydration still at work when he watches Chen's spar and thinks of this own- the way his heart had skipped a beat when Minseok held him down with his sword.
Or maybe he'd simply imagined it.
Minseok turns out to be talented in any weaponry Tao trains him in. Sehun watches from above as Minseok changes from wooden swords to real ones, stepping up the speed of their practice battles until he can hold his own against Tao at his best. When Tao switches up swords, changing Minseok from a broadsword to a cutlass then to a thin sword like himself, the doctor is still able to adjust, only taking a few practices for each to get used to the weaponry.
Even when Tao challenges him with a musket, shooting out practice balls by canon into the ocean, Minseok still proves his talent. It takes a few shots to get used to holding the gun and the recoil after firing, but soon after, Minseok hits almost all the balls tossed out into the sea.
Sehun is still a little jealous. No matter how hard he spars with Tao or Chanyeol, he never seems to be able to hold his own very well. Tao usually manages to knock him off his feet when he's distracted, when his eyes drift for too long at Minseok leaning against the side of the ship, staring out into the ocean. But the awe he has for the doctor far overpowers the jealousy. For someone who's been on the ship only a few weeks, Minseok is a fast learner, smart and adept. He always thinks three steps ahead, knowing when Luhan will pull out the blade in his auto-mail or when Tao will switch to using the long swords on his back. He's limber enough to dodge Lay's quick swipes of his throwing knives and knows how to turn tables in his favor when Baekhyun throws him off by pulling out the whip attached to his side. So far, there isn't a thing that's thrown Minseok off his game.
And even when they've finished sparring, Minseok is sure to briefly check his partner for any injuries and heal up any scratches they get. He treats Chanyeol's sprained wrist with ease when the younger falls back on his hands at an awkward angle. He heals Kyungsoo's burns when the chef scalds himself dumping water out of a boiling pot of potatoes. He adjusts Luhan's prosthetic, tightening bolts and sharpening the blade for when the next raid rolls around.
Sehun keeps training, Tao pushing him to his limits. He repeats moves with his daggers, over and over again until Tao is pleased. Sehun gets the moves and the swings and has worked through plenty of scenarios in his head about how he'll pull out the daggers in a fight, even has gone so far to spend hours at night in his bunk, staring with blank eyes at the bottom of Chanyeol's bunk as he imagines fights, pulling out his daggers with practiced skill. But when it comes down to a fight, he's nearly as weak as he began. It takes Chanyeol fifteen moves to get him pinned, Luhan seven, and Tao four.
He isn't sure what it is, why he feels so useless in a fight. After spending the afternoon working through moves on the boat, Sehun hangs over the side, wood digging painfully into his abdomen as water splashes up in his face, and thinks. The water is clear like any other day sailing out on the ocean. Sehun only wishes his mind were so as well.
"You're scared, aren't you?"
Sehun curses under his breath, having tried to straighten up so fast that his hand smacked against the side of the boat. He tries to shake of the pins prickling under his skin, waiting for the numbness to dissipate.
Minseok looks at him in the eyes, unyielding in his gaze. Sehun feels like fine china on display, letting all his chips and cracks become obvious under curious eyes. He shies away, looking back out onto the sea.
"I'm not scared," he mutters. "I knew what I was going to have to do when I snuck on this boat. There isn't anything I can't do."
The doctor huffs, scuffing his boot against the deck. "If you keep that mentality up, you'll surely be killed."
Sehun almost wishes he had some tobacco because even if he's only tried it twice and hated it every time, at least it would help keep the doctor off his mind. Instead, he can only look down at the water and twiddle his thumbs, hoping his stomach will stop flopping like a fish.
"It's not that easy to kill someone, you know," Minseok starts, staring blankly out at the horizon. The water reflection sparked in the doctor's dark eyes."But once you accept that you have to kill to save the people you love, that's when you become a true fighter."
Even when Sehun gains the courage to face Minseok, the doctor is lost in his thoughts. "You don't gain the courage to kill unless you're truly put in that situation." Minseok faces him, a soft, dull smile on his face. Sehun feels his chest ache a little for the man who seems to have aged years within seconds. "You're young, Sehun, but if you want to get better at fighting then you'll have to realize you're going to have to hurt people."
Sehun startles when Kyungsoo suddenly calls out on deck for dinner. Everyone starts their slow trudge into the dining hall, tired from being out in the sun and training or swabbing the deck. It's his turn to stay out and watch for enemies, so he stays leaned against the boat as Minseok turns away, leaving him with a sad smile and dull eyes.
He glances back into the water, wondering how the water can be so clear and bright when his reflection in it seems even more muddled.
Sehun pushes himself more throughout the week, asking for extra practices with Tao and sneaking up with Chanyeol to spar on deck at night with the moon high in the sky. He battles more and more, taking Minseok's words to heart. If he's going to fight, then he's going to fight for his home.
The sea is calm that day. Death's Angel has been out at sea for nearly two moon cycles now and within the next two, they'll be sure to reach the last port. It's when Baekhyun starts shouting out in the afternoon that the calmness of the day eases away.
"Fire Nation cargo ship off the port side!" he shouts, scaling down the mast with an eager smile on his face. He jumps the last few feet into the chaos of the crew, working to send weights to guard the hold and getting through the weapons chest.
Sehun stands frozen in the chaos, watching as Baekhyun disappears to notify the captain. There, on the horizon, is a black dot floating out on the sea but an obvious flame flag strung high on the sails. It won't be long before Death's Angel catches up under the false pretense of talking.
Suho comes out on deck, crew gathering save for Lay who continues to steer the ship. "I want Luhan, Kyungsoo, Chen, and Chanyeol to stay back on the ship," Suho commands, wielding the pistol in his belt and loading it up. "The rest of you are boarding the ship with me."
Sehun stills, even when Chanyeol gives him a congratulatory pat on the back. He isn't sure what to make of it, that Suho wants him to board this time.
"Wait, you're gonna let the doctor board?" Luhan asks, looking bewildered. Suho looks up from securing his cutlass to his belt, eyebrows raised at Luhan's retort.
"And why not? He's clearly skilled enough to board."
Luhan balls his fists and presses his lips together. He knows better than to question the captain's decisions; there's never been a time Suho has made a decision without good reason to.
The crew bursts back into motion, Luhan going up by Lay to take over piloting the ship, Kyungsoo, Chen, and Chanyeol leaving to set up a barricade for the hold, and the crew going aboard warming up with their weapons of choice. Sehun waits for the crew to dissipate until the captain is alone. Sehun approaches him warily. Even if he towers over Suho, the captain's shadow is even more menacing and confident than him.
"Captain Suho, am I really boarding?" he asks, hoping he's hiding his timidness well. Not that he isn't eager to board, but he's never done it yet. If they had to send anyone out of the usual group, it was always Chanyeol
Suho looks up, pausing for a moment before he smiles sympathetically. "I know you can do it, Sehun." He gently lays his hand on Sehun's shoulder, squeezing lightly. "I know you've come up here with Chanyeol to train, I know you've been working hard, and I know that this will be good for you."
Sehun swallows thickly, swiping his sweaty hands on his shirt. He almost doesn't want to say anymore, save whatever semblance of dignity and pride he has left, but his mouth moves of its own accord. "But what if I screw up?"
"Who doesn't?" Suho cuts, patting Sehun on the back before heading back to find Minseok. "Just remember, we're a team. We'll protect you, just as you would do for us."
Sehun's sigh drowns out the clanking of swords and thudding of feet padding against the deck. The Fire Nation ship looms ever closer with each passing minute and he's almost sure he'll vomit over the side of the boat, nerves swirling like a hurricane in his chest. Chanyeol has that stupid trick when Sehun panics, and he always says it's dumb and teases his friend, but he figures now would be a good time as any to try it. He holds his breath, closes his eyes, and imagines everyone-
"You'll do great!" Chanyeol booms, slapping Sehun hard enough that he careens to the side of the boat. He lets out the breath he was holding in. Now frustrated, he puts Chanyeol in a headlock, locking his arms until Chanyeol barely breathes out 'mercy'.
"Geez, Sehun, go easy on me." But Chanyeol grins and ruffles his sweaty hair and Sehun knows that Chanyeol isn't bothered in the least. "But don't you feel a little better?"
Sehun does, though he wouldn't admit it. He brushes Chanyeol off with a huff, striding towards the canons being prepared to fire, his friend hot on his heels.
"It didn't do a thing. I've been ready for this since I was born," he gloats. If it were anyone other than Chanyeol, they may have been fooled. Chanyeol, however, isn't.
"You just come back alive with all your limbs intact," his friend whispers, immediately turning heel for the hold and running in. Sehun just stands dumbly, hoping his mouth isn't gaping like a fish.
But he doesn't have much time to think. "We're starting the canon fire!" Baekhyun calls out, manning a canon with Tao at his side, canon ball in his hand and being loaded in. Lay and, surprisingly, Minseok step up to man the last two canons, preloaded and ready to fire.
Suho takes the canon behind Lay, and Sehun is left to assist Minseok. The ship is much closer now, and an eerie silence falls upon their boat. The water lapping against the boat is as loud as a foghorn, blaring in the thickening tension. Sehun swallows around the lump in his throat, hoping he can keep his heart down.
Minseok gives him a reassuring smile, and Sehun's heart calms down enough for him to smile back.
The captain raises his sword, a fiery glare in his eyes. This is the captain of Death's Angel, Sehun thinks. Suho's name is notorious. There isn't a market stall that doesn't know of Suho's quest for the Moonstone or a child that can't recite the tale of Death's Angel's quest through the jungles of the Earth Nation in search of the Sun Temple. Many tales are just rumors, Sehun had come to find out within days of being on the ship, but the heroism and leadership attributed to Suho's name isn't. Suho is the most feared pirate captain on the ocean.
Suho's sword wavers in the air with the wind. He swings the cutlass down, pure silver slicing through the air with a whoosh. A smirk tugs at his lips and death drips from his words.
"Fire!"
The canons are off, one by one in succession until the shouts from the Fire Nation can be heard. All their canons are aimed to miss, each round of fire landing within centimeters of the boat. Three rounds of firing and the Fire Nation raises their second flag.
Chen raises the Fire Nation flag they'd stolen from another ship. "We're ready for boarding, captain," he calls, smirking eagerly. Suho nods, bringing his gaze back to the cargo ship. "Luhan, bring us in!"
Luhan steers the boat over, riding on the currents far too quickly for Sehun to keep up. His palm is sweaty on the hilt of his sword, leaving black, wet smudges when he lifts his hand to wipe on his shirt. The dagger in his boot feels like it weighs a barrel of potatoes and the sun beating down on his back feels like he's stepped into Satan's innermost prison of hellfire.
Death's Angel draws close enough to the cargo ship that Sehun can see their faces. But what catches his eyes amidst the scarred sailors with defined muscles and years of experience under their belts is the boys. The young swabbers with thin arms and sunken eyes, looking spindly amongst the bulky men next to them. A few look as fearful as he feels, a few more have their fists curled at their sides and a fierce furrow in their brows.
They look ready for talks when Baekhyun pulls out his musket and fires into the crowd. "If you don't surrender your ship in peace, we'll take everything by force!" he shouts.
The first mouth that opens in protest is shot down, the sound of gunpowder echoing amongst the ocean. The cargo ship crew goes into a frenzy, panic running through their veins as each scrabbles for a weapon, wrestling with their crew mates for the better one. Baekhyun and Tao keep firing muskets, Lay soon joining in and one by one, a few men go down.
"Are we set to board?" Suho shouts amongst the chaos. Sehun watches as the boarding plank is set between the ships, Tao working to shoot back those who approach the board from the other side.
"We're set!"
And they're slowly boarding, Baekhyun and Tao leading the way over with Lay bringing up the rear. A man comes rushing at Minseok with blind rage in his eyes. Sehun's feet lock in place when Minseok swings up to block the attacker, pushing the sailor back with each blow of his sword until the man is down on his knees with fear in his eyes.
When Sehun glances back up, he's standing alone in the midst of the skirmish, the boarding plank back to their ship already put away.
The air slices next to his ear and his eyes meet up with a sailor older than him with confidence in his shoulders. Sehun catches the downswing of the sailor's blade with his cutlass, exhaling nerves as the blade shimmers too close to his face. Adrenaline starts to pump through his veins when he knocks his attacker back, wielding out his dagger and taking a swipe at the sailor's side. He cringes as the blade cuts through human skin, the agonizing scream ringing in his head. In fear, he pulls out the blade and wobbles back on shaky legs but doesn't have much time to think before another attacker is on him, a man much bulkier than the last.
He isn't so lucky to dodge a few swipes, the sailor's thin sword cutting through the sleeve of his left arm and the tip of the blade catching him in a slice across his right cheek. He winces when the blade cuts more than a little shallow at his left calf but manages to push the man back with a swipe of his dagger at the man's shoulder. Blood gushes from the wound and Sehun's ears ring with another painful howl as the man staggers to the ground, clutching at his red stained shirt as the blood spills out from underneath his hand.
"Sehun, watch it!"
He finds himself falling back with a push to his chest, watching as a blade comes down, aimed right for his head. It stops midair as he falls back, breath knocked right out of his lungs.
Minseok knocks the sword out of the man's hand, pinning the sailor down with a blade to his neck. "Sehun, are you alright?" he calls out, a shine in his eyes that's begging for Sehun to get up again.
Sehun nods, scrambling to get his cutlass. He catches a blur in the corner of his eye and automatically, his arm swings out with the sword. The man rushing towards Minseok stumbles back in the face of the sword, quickly changing his direction and aiming for Sehun. He manages to take the sailor out in ten swipes.
He chances a glance around the boat, survey the damage, and things are fairly calm now. The Fire Nation crew is being rounded up, muskets pointed at their heads if they so much as move. Blood paints the deck. He looks down at his hand, shakily gripping the hilt of his sword, to find it blood stained and sticky.
"Do you have anyone down in your hold!" Baekhyun shouts, musket knocking the head of the captain. The man shakes his head, teeth grinding in anger.
"He's right. Let's move it out," Suho exclaims when he comes up from the hold, proud smile on his face. Sehun and Minseok help round up the last few guys on the ship before following Suho and Lay down into the hold.
He comes back up with arms of food and gunpowder- that's all a cargo ship this size ever carries. They pocket any of the gold pieces they find, packing away stashes in the food barrels and then hoist them all back to Death's Angel. Sehun can't help but see red no matter where he looks, but he forgets the hue in the face of Chanyeol's bright smile.
"Good job, Sehunnie," Chanyeol says when he pulls the younger off to the side when the cargo has been loaded, Fire Nation ship long out of sight. Sehun pulls Chanyeol's ears, threatening to call him like a kid again, but if even if he wouldn't admit it, it's nice to have his friend dote on him.
Sehun looks down to his blood stained hands as they hover over a pail of water. The blood comes off with a few scrubs, and his hands come out as clean as they had been before.
When night rolls around, the alcohol is once again brought out in celebration of a successful raid. Bottles and cups of rum and vodka are shoved in Sehun's face, and after the first he doesn't remember when he stops. Suho isn't there at the table and neither is Minseok, but no one even notices with the pleasant buzz in the air.
When Sehun knows he needs a break, he blindly grabs a bottle of beer and stumbles up to the deck. That's where he finds Minseok, leaning against the mast as he looks out into the ocean.
"I can take you up, if you'd like," is what Sehun thinks he coolly says, but it comes out as drunken mumbles and twisted words. He flushes in the cool summer air.
Minseok smiles. "I could get up there myself if I really wanted," he says before he scales the mast like he's been doing it for longer than Sehun has, coming to rest at the bar of the lowest sail.
Sehun hopes his mouth isn't hanging open dumbly, but he tries to follow up anyway. He beer bottle slips from his grip and his feet slip on the wood more than once, and luckily Minseok is holding on to steady him when he nearly falls at the bar the medic is sitting on. With some amount of drunken, dumb luck, he manages to steady himself enough to sit there with Minseok in the summer night.
Sehun doesn't mind that Minseok doesn't speak, he's too drunk anyway to talk himself. His mind flashes back to Minseok stepping in to save him, taking on multiple attackers at once. The jealousy swirls a little in his stomach, but he's still just as proud to have watched. Just as happy to watch Minseok shine.
The night passes easily, and he isn't sure when he falls asleep because all he knows is that he wakes up with a pounding headache in his own bed, his chest a little hollow when he falls from his bunk.
Sehun boards two more cargo ships, a Water Nation and another Fire Nation ship. Suho never sticks around when they come back from a raid. Minseok is always right on Suho's heels it seems. But each time he boards with Minseok, the medic gets him out of a tough spot, and each time afterwards, Minseok is there to disinfect his scratches and take care of some of the older ones. Delicate, smooth hands press against his face as Minseok wipes at gashes with disinfecting cloths and presses a new, dry cloth over the old patches. Sometimes his heart rate picks up when Minseok leans in close, warm breath fanning against his cheek. He figures it's just a side effect of the disinfectant or hunger or anything.
It's not admiration or love, Sehun tries to convince himself. Definitely not.
There's a clingy heat in the air, an odd feeling that sinks down on everyone's shoulders. Sehun knows everyone feels it- the sticky heat that signals an oncoming thunderstorm. The heat is not too overbearing, so Sehun doesn't think much of it.
The day is spent between preparations, the majority of the crew securing everything in the hold as best as they can while the navigation team stays hunched over maps and barometers, double and triple checking their calculations for the storm.
"We can't be sure of the exact size of the storm," Lay announces, folding the parchment of calculations and securing it in the chest. "We'll just have to take all the precautions we can."
There isn't a cloud in the distance- not a single obstruction in the sky, sun shining down on them unhindered. Sometimes, these machines are wrong. The barometers have been wrong before.
Maybe it'll be wrong this time too.
Lay's calculations are not wrong.
Within two days, night falls with dark clouds overhanging the ship. The water is rough, waves tipping the boat around, playing with the ship as if a mere child's toy. The crew is in a rush to secure as much as they can before the storm hits.
The rain then comes. It starts off with light rain that dampens the deck. Sehun manages to slip once trying to climb up the mast, Minseok picking him up with a timid smile and concerned eyes. Sehun tells him not to worry, but he knows it'll only get worse.
Within minutes the rain pours torrentially, wind picking up and knocking the boat around. Everything on the deck is secured and Luhan and Lay are trying to steer the boat out of the storm, but the wind continues to pick up. The wind grows more ferocious in minutes and Sehun can barely see his hand in front of his face in between the pouring rain and the way the ship tilts and sways in the water.
"Captain!" Lay shouts from the upper deck, knuckles white gripped on the steer. "The storm is only going to get worse from here!"
Suho purses his lips, making his way to the upper level of the deck. "Keep steering! We're gonna push through this storm! Crew, we're pushing through!"
And the storm does get worse. Sehun can barely see two feet out in front of him and he's soaked to the bone, teeth chattering enough to feel like it's knocking his brain around. He'd never been one to stand up easily to the elements, and being on the ship has proven to be no exception.
A particularly strong wave knocks the boat to the side and Sehun slips on the deck, feeling himself slide against the wood until a hand grabs the back of his shirt and hoists him steady. It's Minseok gripping his shirt, teeth grit as he struggles to pull him back up. With combined effort, Sehun manages to get up and find a better place to stand, ignoring the scratches from the wood that had dug into his back.
The wind picks up along with the shouting. Everyone's shouting on the deck, barking orders and curses as they tip from side to side. Sehun can barely think above the noise and he finds himself sneaking away, Minseok somehow pressed close into his side.
He hears it first, the subtle sound of wood splintering admits the ruckus. He searches frantically, trying to find where the wood is breaking but he can't see a thing in the storm.
"The sail, captain!"
Sehun looks up in time to find the sails unfurling from the mast. They're still hinged by the pole but every sail on the second mast has come undone, the ropes flying out in the wind.
He's already out on deck, trying to hold his balance when Suho orders him to tie up the sails. He makes it to the mast with no problems, but climbing is significantly more difficult with rain blurring his vision and the wood under his palms more difficult to grasp. He doesn't dare to look down.
He climbs up to the outcrop with the loose sail, gripping the mast with all the force in his hands. His legs tremble as he tries to walk out and reach the loose end of the sail. Someone shouts 'Be careful!' behind him, but it's hard to hear anything over the roar of the wind.
The panic in his chest eases a little when he manages to grab the end of the sail. But it still requires him to climb out to the end of the outcrop to tie the sail at the very end.
He takes two sidesteps, one hand still gripping on the mast.
He takes two more sidesteps, praying that the wind will ease enough for him to reach the end.
He takes two sidesteps and he's reached the end, exhaling nerves. His cold fingers don't want to cooperate, as he sits on the gaff and tries to tie the knot. 'Come on, come on, come on!' he screams at himself, wiping rain from his eyes as he continues to tie the knot around the wet wood. The rope keeps slipping, the wind keeps trying to knock him back but there's no way he's quitting this until the rope is tied. There's no way the ship can sail otherwise.
Everyone is depending on him.
Finally, he gets the rope tied and secured. He checks the knot five times just to be sure. He looks up at the sail and finds that the upper half is swung out a little far, but the wind will realign the sails.
He steadies himself on the sail fabric as he stands back up, clutching tighter when the wind blows harder. He mistakenly closes his eyes.
"Sehun! Watch for the gaff above you!"
He's too late to move because the upper half of the mast is already swinging straight at him. He stumbles back to the end of the wood but he doesn't have any time to react when the wood comes swinging right at him, pointed end of the gaff slicing through the skin of his upper chest completely. From shoulder to shoulder, the skin rips through his damp clothes. Blood pours out onto his shirt and before Sehun realizes where the wood under his feet has gone, he lands on the deck on his back.
The breath is knocked right out of his lungs and his vision blackens as he lies there in pain, searing in his chest and knocking in his head. For a moment, he doubts anyone would come to help him.
Because even in new clothes in a new setting, he's still a street kid- a street rat. And no one ever helps them.
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