A Pirate's Tale | ATEEZ Fan Fiction

Chapter 32: Pathways

"So who exactly is Haemir?"

I asked Jongho as he handed me another apple slice.

"She's umm a demon.."

"Yeah I kind of figured that out."

He bit his bottom lip as he directed his full attention to the apple in his hands.

"What did Hongjoong mean when he said that she 'hates you guys the most'?"

He sighed, bringing the apple up in his palm before shoving it back into the fruit crate.

"As you know, we don't have a very good reputation with most demons— correction, we don't have a good reputation with any demon. But out of all the demons we've faced in our time on the seas, no one comes as close to wanting us completely dead as Haemir does."

I hummed at his explanation, taking another bite of the apple slice.

"But what could Haemir possibly offer to the bl— those ships that they would risk shooting you down?"

"Sirens."

"Sirens? As in the demonic-mermaids-I-will-sing-to-lure-you-in-the-ocean-so-I-can-eat-you sirens?"

He nodded, "Yep, those ones."

I stared at him with wide eyes, "Why?"

"Haemir is the Queen of the Sirens. She controls all of them, which means that she'd probably made a deal with the bla—um those ships using the sirens as their payment."

"So you think that in return for killing all of you, Haemir promised them that they'd get some of the sirens to trade?"

"Or do other things with.."

I bit my tongue at the mental image beginning to form in my mind and shook my head as I tried to get the sight away from my thoughts. Jongho dropped the small blade he was twirling and placed a hand on my arm. I looked into his large eyes and a smile began to curve up on his lips as he gently rubbed my skin with his thumb.

"Sorry Illa..."

There it was again. That word. Sorry. He was apologising to me. Why was he apologising? He shouldn't be the one apologising, should he?

"I'm sorry.."

He tilted his head as his eyebrows creased in the centre of his forehead as the whisper left my lips. I knew that look. He always wore that look when he was confused, like the morning after he and the others had had too much to drink at the BBB.

"There you are!"

Both of our heads whipped back to see Seonghwa climbing down the pantry's ladder wearing a slightly exhausted and annoyed expression.

"Oh hey Hyung!"

Jongho shot the other a salute and threw an apple in his direction to which the boatswain easily caught with his right hand.

"You have no idea how long I've been looking for you two!"

Jongho flashed me an 'uh-oh we're in trouble,' look as I let out a small chuckle.

"Jongho, Wooyoung needs you to fill up the canons, we're nearing Mistros."

He let out a hefty, "Yep okay!" as he got up from the barrel he was sitting on and patted me on the shoulder before climbing out of the pantry and hopping down the hatch to where all of the gun-powder was.

"Cap wants to see you Illa,"

Seonghwa flashed me a small smile before offering his hand to me. I took it and hopped off of the barrel, moving to climb up the ladder with the boatswain following closely behind.