𝐃𝐚𝐫𝐤 𝐖𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 (𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞!𝐚𝐮) 𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐙

CH. 9 ~ Island

Sun-Mi shifts looking down at her feet as she fishes for something in her pocket. Slowly she pulls out the beautifully patterned cloth that caused this dilemma. Mingi's expression falls from curiosity to deep regret and sorrow as he eyes the material in the blue-haired girl's hand. She reached out grabbing one of his palms and pressing the cloth into his opened hand.

"You should have told me." She utters softly not meeting his gaze. "I had no idea." Mingi's expression contorts into one of pain as he tries to hold back memories flooding his mind.

"Who told you?" He asks dejectedly holding on tightly to the piece of cloth as if he might lose it in the blink of an eye.

"Wooyoung," She responds still not willing to look at him. The room falls silent as she thinks of what else to say to comfort, to reach out to him, but at the end of the day, they both know... death leaves a heartache that no one can heal and an empty void that no one can refill. "I know it hurts." She speaks holding his hand even tighter. He's a bit taken aback at her sudden kindness, he doesn't know how to respond. "I'm sorry," she whispers.

"What do you know?" Mingi derides. Sun-Mi finally gathers the courage to look him in the eye and smiles softly but in her eyes there's nothing. Just pained-empty eyes staring back at him. Eyes he's once had. She contemplates whether to answer his question when she begins to feel an all too familiar burning sensation on her wrist. Neither of them had noticed but the air around them had dropped several degrees. A shiver went down her spine as she felt a strong increasing presence. The ship then lurched forward throwing Sun-Mi off balance. A distant whistle was heard and both Sun-Mi and Mingi whipped their heads towards the door then back at each other. Mingi darts towards the door as quickly as he can, to check the source of the noise with Sun-Mi at his heels, but when they both step out into the main deck they find themselves face to face with a thick cloud of white fog. Sun-Mi shivers at the sudden gust of wind, sticking her hand out into the fog. She can barely even see her hand in the fog. She turns to where Mingi is standing beside her, squinting into the mist. She notices his breath also turning into fog every time he breathes out. Where are we? She thinks to herself.

1st person P.0.V. ~

"We're close," Mingi notes vaguely leaving me with even more questions than before. He looks over at me noticing the small lines of worry and alarm etched into my expression. Seeing me like this seems to create small panic in him as well. He steps into the fog taking a deep breathe when something moves behind him, grabbing both of us.

I feel a pair of hands latch onto me followed by a high-pitched cry, but it wasn't me yelling. Turning to face my attacker, I bring my fist back to hit whatever is grabbing onto me when I hear a familiar voice speak up.

"Stop! Sun-Mi, It's me! Yeosang!" His warm hand wraps around mine as his face comes into view out of the fog. The yells and cries continue when both Yeaosang and I turn to see the red-head curled up in a ball yelling pathetically with a confused Seonghwa hovering above him. I walk over to Mingi laying a hand on his shoulder, but he just swats me away.

"Don't eat me, demon! I promise I'm a good boy!" he cries rocking back and forth. Yeosang tries to hold back his laughter biting down on his lip as hard as he can. Seonghwa and I snort in response giggling madly at the man's reaction in front of us. Mingi finally comes to his senses seeing the three of us laughing our butts off. He stands up sourly dusting himself off. "Imma murder you all."

"No, you can't because you're a good boy," Yeosang taunts. Mingi lunges at the blonde but he gracefully side-steps to avoid the taller male. Yeosang turns on his heel to face me when he notices the glowing characters on my wrist. He looks over at Seonghwa but the black-haired male is busy with Mingi, so he grabs my wrists, tugging me away from the other two and into the fog. We continue walking until we reach the mainmast. Yeosang turns picking up my wrist and taking in the glow of the mysterious symbols.