Mists of Celeste - an Ateez Fanfic

act six ➻ part four

chapter specific warnings: talk of torture, references to injury and blood, conversations and engagements in unhealthy coping mechanisms, adult content

✦       ✦       ✦

You are spared the further pleasure of having to deal with Jisung for the rest of the day, and in fact, he doesn't return for a handful of days. Minho lingers, mostly on account of looking after you and your bum shoulder. Hyunwoo as well, of course, because it's his home, and that Starscourge fellow you interacted with a bit in the past. Hyunwoo leaves you well enough alone. You can't say that you mind all too much. There's some gratitude for the fact that it's only your shoulder that's injured and not something like a leg because you aren't bedridden or forced to stay inside because of the injury.

The downside is that there isn't much for you to truly do here. Hyunwoo doesn't try to press you to recover any memories, you eat alone in your room with Minho dozing in the corner, and occasionally he trails after you while you're walking around outside.

Other than that, you feel wholly restless. The invisible timer you had in your mind about when Hongjoong would catch up is running out, but you know there's no way for him to know that you're off in the middle of nowhere in a cottage because you left the tracker on Jisung's ship. And Minho was dead-on: you don't have a plan b for if this shaky plan a fails.

For the first time in your life (that you know of), you find yourself genuinely praying for some sort of reprieve from the stars. Every night when you lay your head against the pillow, you reach out to Wooyoung with a whisper and a plea that finds no home.

"Hope is your best weapon, Y/n. You can't lose sight of that, even if it's so dark around you that you cannot see."

Minho had shared that with you on day two after Jisung left to go god knows where. Either he is damn good at his job or you are simply easy to read. It feels a bit like he's in your corner though, which is reassuring in a way because you had felt so very alone before your chat after the night you were shot. Jisung must be doing something wherever he is though; you haven't suffered another attack since then. Part of that might be thanks to the way the tall red-head is always a few steps behind Minho, who always walks a few steps behind you, with a nice and pretty high-tech sniper rifle that has the fanciest scope you've ever seen on a gun. With that alone, he could probably sniff out any threat with no issue. But then again, maybe what Jisung implied was true: perhaps it was just a warning shot to test the waters, and now your would-be assassins are laying low to figure out their next move. Or they want to capture you alive since you're worth more money that way. You wouldn't put it past someone in the business of piracy to be so frugal about the difference.

Still, despite what Minho said on day two, you find your only weapon dwindling on day three, then further on day four. It's been a grand total of eight days since you left The Horizon on Jisung's behalf. They should have caught up two days ago. You hate to say that you've grown a little attached to your new doctor-friend, but that might also only be because you're feeling stir-crazy.

He is in front of you today as you go about your morning walk. The sun is just now rising over the rocky cliffs to the east, but it is bright enough for you to see Minho clearly. He's just wearing a plain white tee over baggy grey pants, despite it being awfully chilly, and his close-cut hair leaves his entire nape exposed. You're certain he didn't think too deeply about it — otherwise, he wouldn't have walked in front of you — but it confirms the suspicion that arose days ago.

There, at the base of his neck, sits a line of welts that have scarred over into a deep imprint of a brand. It's large enough to be noticeable and clean to the point where you can clearly see that the image there is that of a whale inside a circle. It must be the work of a laser rather than hot iron given how neat the curves are. It serves its purpose well enough, either way.