Precious

05: A Siren's Will

"Is this really necessary?" Wooyoung questioned, voice shaking as he spoke.

"Yes." San answered, looking up just for his eyes to form a glare, scolding Wooyoung for even asking.

Wooyoung let out a weak sigh. He continued watching as San wrapped up his wrists and part of his hands together using numerous pieces of kelp and seaweed, then would dip his hand into a jar of some strange looking and smelling substance, smothering it all over what he just placed. This similar process was already done to Wooyoung's lower legs, effectively trapping them together.

"What even is that stuff?" Wooyoung asked almost lazily, leaning his head to rest against the rock wall.

"This?" San asked after scooping out another handful of the plum colored, liquid yet solid substance. Wooyoung hummed, nodding his head. "I don't know the human name for it, other than to say it's similar, but not quite the same as to what you call mud. It's found in the deep sea. As you can tell, it's quite strong, and myself and merfolk tend to use it as a binding agent. Even underwater, it holds the same properties. So, as you can imagine, it's pretty difficult to collect like I have."

Wooyoung hummed sarcastically, making a snarky expression to go along with it. He immediately dropped the face the second San looked up, earning another scolding look.

"I saw that." San chuckled, shaking his head. He didn't seem upset, nor did his voice have any kind of negative undertone to it.

"How long will you be gone?" Wooyoung asked, sounding tired and broken again.

The siren merely shrugged his shoulders, making Wooyoung groan.

"If I happen to pass by Yunho, I can send him here to keep you company." San offered, in some way genuine, in some way taunting.

"Whatever." Wooyoung muttered, keeping his vision narrowed, looking to the side, keeping the siren in his peripheral.

San rolled his eyes, closing the lid to the jar. Wooyoung looked down at his hands, highly upset that he was tied up again by this disgustingly slimy yet rough stuff, and he couldn't do anything about it. He initially tried resisting, which he now found highly stupid and a waste of energy seeing as San's eyes changed color and he fell right into his trap.

He had no idea how long it's been since the siren had finished bringing up all of his belongings from the deep sea, and he honestly didn't know if he wanted to have that information. While he hated not having any sense of time, knowing how long he's been trapped was equally as disheartening. Given the amount of times he's felt the need to sleep, he felt like it wouldn't be a far guess to say anywhere between three and five days.

While he was lost in thought, San had moved away, dipping his hands into the water to wash off any of the remaining mud, pulling his hands back up and shaking them dry. He then went over to where he neatly stored his excessive amount of green woven bags, pulling the largest one over his shoulders.

Wooyoung squeaked when his face was grabbed, forcing him from thought and to stare into the siren's brown eyes.

"Do not forget to eat and drink when I'm gone." San stated firmly, some sort of undertone of care. His stern eyes expressing just as much as his words that Wooyoung should know better than to mess with him by this point.

"I'd love to, but you see, someone tied by hands together." Wooyoung said sarcastically, challenging the siren's gaze, lifting his hands to further prove his point.

San let go of Wooyoung's jaw, chuckling. "I tied your hands in a way that you can still use them, my silly human. Don't play dumb."

The siren then turned, jumping into the water. He resurfaced after transforming into his proper form, taking another good look at Wooyoung. Just as he was about to dive under the water, for some reason Wooyoung spoke out in a quick, hesitant voice.