I Am The Sea || Choi San

arrangements

"Theo, you need to calm down," Hongjoong approaches Theo with carefully raised hands, "Contain yourself."
"No!"
Theo crumples the paper in her hands and twirls to face her Captain. Everything inside her is vibrating, her anger being mirrored within the sea.
There is a simmering beneath the surface that is getting hard to ignore.

Theo comes face to face with Captain Hongjoong.
"How could you let this happen?"
She turns around herself, pointing accusingly at the other crew members, "How could any of you let this happen? By the Seven Seas, how could I let this happen?"
"None of us could have seen this coming, Theo," Seonghwa steps closer to Theo and tries to grab after her hand, but the girl flutters away.

Theo does not want to hear this.
She could have seen the Pirate King coming. Even now, with all her anger and her fear boiling together inside her stomach, she can feel deep within the space between her ribs the movement of the water, the locations of the ships, the strength of the waves.
She can feel it all like the knowledge had settled in her brain centuries ago.
So, yes, she should have known a ship was approaching the vessel she calls home. She should have known.

"What are you planning to do?"
Theo turns to Hongjoong once again.
The Captain is standing with his hands folded behind his back, staring at the far away ship with the red sails.
He seems to think carefully.
Theo can feel her entire body urge her to take him by his shoulders and shake him.
They do not have time for this.
"We need to tread carefully here," the Captain finally says, "We need to consider everything."

And just like that, Theo loses grip of her power for a second. The ship sways from side to side as her fingertips start glowing brightly.
"What is that supposed to mean?"
Hongjoong finally turns to Theo.
"I would never leave San, or any other member of my circle, behind. You know that, Theo, so do not make the mistake of thinking I would ever leave San to his fate," he takes a deep breath, "But the Pirate King thinks we have the Pearl. He would be a fool to attack us with the Pearl in our hold and the Pirate King knows that. He is not going to attack us. We just need to be patient."

Theo can't believe her ears.
"You're betting San's life on the idea that the Pirate King is too scared of a bedtime story?"
A giggle erupts out of her, a menacing and unsettling sound.
"The legendary Pirate King," Theo waves her arm around, swaggering between the crew members as she points towards the red sails, "The very pirate whose sails are soaked in his enemies' blood, whose tales and stories are the stuff nightmares are made of. The same pirate that you spent years running from in fear!"
Theo points at Hongjoong with one long finger, her eyes blazing with fury white and clean as the moonlight.

"Theo," Yunho's voice is low and cautionary from behind her, "That's enough."
"No," she answers, "We need to do something now. You know I am right. The Pirate King is unpredictable. He's dangerous. Leaving San with him while we wait around for him to retreat would be a mistake!"
Theo can feel herself grow desperate.
These are the Captain's men. They will not follow her over the Captain's orders.
These people are her family, San is the love of her life, but they will choose their Captain over anybody.

Hongjoong glances at Seonghwa from the side of his eyes. Seonghwa has been listening intently, but he's half turned away, facing the enemy ship.
"Please," Theo begs with a thin voice, her eyes falling close. "I have all this power within me. I am the Pearl. Use this gift to your advantage and we can win this fight."
Mingi raises his voice then.
"We're still outnumbered," he says, "Even if you could control your powers completely, we're one ship. We have limited resources and they have a small fleet ready to blow us to bits and pieces. Are you confident that you could fight against not one, but multiple ships at the same time?"

Theo's eyes drop down to her hands. The glow emitting from her fingertips is soft now, waiting to be used. She can feel the power surging through her veins with the speed of light and it takes everything for her not to let go of it.
What if she does unleash it and it destroys more than she intended?
What if she ends up hurting the one she's trying to save?
What if she only makes it worse?

But then again, what if they don't do anything and the Pirate King lashes out against San?
What if he kills him? Out of spite, out of anger.

Theo could lose San, that's the bottom line of it all.
No matter what they decide to do, San's life is at risk. His safety.

Theo brushes her fingers through her hair, rubbing her eyes with the palms of her hands until she sees colors explode behind her eyelids.  She wants to jump ship and swim across the water. She wants to claw at her own skin and stab her dagger into the railing of the ship until the wood splinters.
How did she believe herself to be in complete bliss and safety mere hours ago?

Wooyoung and Yeosang share a look.
Yeosang is clinging to the railing, his lips pressed into a thin line. He does not know how to voice his thoughts, but Wooyoung can see them in his eyes.
Wooyoung takes his hand and interlocks their fingers.
He desperately wants to agree with Theo. She is their secret weapon, the one thing no one even dared to ever find. She holds more power than any of them can comprehend.
And that is his best friend in captivity on the most dangerous ship in the entire world.
He would never forgive himself if something were to happen to San.

Wooyoung flexes his hand but then he reaches out his fingers and brushes them against Theo's. She looks at him with tears in her eyes. Wordlessly, they nod at each other as Wooyoung pulls her closer to embrace her with one arm. Then he turns to his Captain with a stern look on his face.

"I agree with Theo," he states, "We can not wait for the Pirate King to give up. You know he wont, that proud bastard, he'd rather run us the bottom of the ocean for disregarding his instructions. If we do nothing, San dies."

"And if we act too quickly and without a plan, San dies as well," Hongjoong responds. He sighs gravely.

"Listen," he says, "I am not saying we should abandon San on that ship! I'm not saying we will do nothing! But we have to come up with a plan that guarantees our survival. We have to come up with a plan that is bulletproof. We can't just start shooting, hoping it'll work out. We are outgunned, outnumbered, and in the disadvantage."

"But we don't have to be," Theo says.
"What do you mean?"
"Do you trust me?"

Captain Hongjoong hesitates.
He does trust Theo. Ever since she came onto his ship she has grown to be a valuable part of his crew, and a dear friend. She has shown courage and empathy, the willingness to protect the people closets to him, and the wits of a true pirate. She has not let him down in all the months she's travelled the sea with them. And yet... yet she is a mere twenty years old and was brought up sheltered and protected. She simply lacks the experience with men like the Pirate King. She does not know what he is capable of.

His eyes wander to Seonghwa again. He longs to reach out and brush his hands through Seonghwa's raven hair or curl up against his chest. He can feel Seonghwa's turmoil of emotions, knows his anger and fear by the tension in his shoulders. He would love nothing more than to be far away from all this, be somewhere safe and warm and out of the Pirate King's reach.

When he looks back at the ship, he sighs. Theo is right, unfortunately. He has fled from this man for years. Too afraid to fight him, too cowardly to face the consequences. Too weak to stop running and stand up for his choices.

Perhaps the Captain is sick of running. Perhaps he has had it with the constant fear and danger; the target on his back has grown heavy over the years... too heavy to continue carrying it.

"I do trust you." Hongjoong finally answers. "Do whatever it takes. We will not lose this fight."