Eleuthera is beautiful.
A long island with sparkling white and pink sand and crystal clear waters, it's a bustling coastal town with lively, chattering people at every turn. From each corner of the street, there are colourful stalls with an exotic array of different wares and on the sea breeze you catch the smell of myrrh and frankincense.
"So what are we going to do today?" Yunho asks, as he glances around the town, excited to explore. Hongjoong has already informed the crew of the reason you have come to Eleuthera, but it seems that they are treating it more of a vacation instead.
Your captain frowns as he gazes over the town. "I don't know how you're going to find that green eyed man from your dreams, but we could always take this time to explore slowly. Everyone, let's divide into groups and have some free and easy."
"Let's go herb exploring!" San grins enthusiastically, taking your hand and swinging it up and down. The excitement must come from the novelty of being in a completely new place because your master is literally bouncing up and down like a hyperactive bunny, overflowing with energy. "I'm sure there's a lot of interesting things for us to see here!"
You smile at your master, about to agree, but then someone cuts in abruptly.
"She'll come with me."
You stare at him in shock.
Of all the people you had thought would say that, it had been the person you expected least. Everyone else seems to think so too, because they all turn around to stare at him in surprise as well.
Mingi looks at all of you determinedly, his deep brown eyes unwavering. There's still a fresh purple bruise on his jaw from where Jongho had hit him a few days ago on accident so it's a little hard to take him seriously, but he doesn't look like he's about to take a no for an answer.
It's strange, though. You and the quartermaster have never had much reason to speak to each other, and even though you've seen him afraid of bugs and the like to the point his massive height is not actually intimidating to you anymore, you know that the last time you spoke, he was furious with you for getting the crew into serious danger.
In fact, part of you is still kind of afraid of him.
"Uhh-"
"Don't forget, you still owe me for breaking my nose the last time." The quartermaster reminds you and you pause with your mouth open in a feeble attempt of a protest, but what he's saying is true, after all...
Hongjoong turns to his oldest friend, a little confused. "Mingi, what are you-"
"Then it's settled." Mingi declares, grabbing you by the arm and pulling you with him. San yelps as you're tugged away from him but doesn't do anything, instead pouting and clinging to Yeosang who looks just as confused as you are. "We'll be back to the ship by sunset."
"Help!" You mouth to the navigator, who simply flails his arms around desperately in a clear sign of 'I don't know what to do either!' You can only watch their forms getting smaller and smaller as the quartermaster pulls you with him away from the rest of the crew.
He leads you down a set of alleyways and you take in the vibrantly coloured mosaic walls, the beautiful geometric patterns and the brightly stained windows that you've never seen before. This place seems to be one full of happiness and relaxation, the sounds of a flute and fiddle drifting down the street attempting to draw you into its melody, but you still can't stop the anxious thumping in your heart.
Why does Mingi want with you?
To your surprise, you and Mingi break free of the town, leaving civilisation behind as he leads you to a stretch of beach. It's the most beautiful beach you've ever seen, actually, with pastel pink sands and jewel-like aquamarine waters, but what makes you panic a little is how secluded it is.
"You're not going to kill me and hide my body, are you, Mingi-hyung?" The words leave your mouth before you can stop them and you clap a hand over your face in horror. Mingi stops in front of you abruptly and you go crashing into his shoulder, bruising your nose, but he doesn't turn back to look at you.
There's silence.
You gulp nervously when you see his jaw clench. Did you make Mingi angry?
Then he turns around with a pout.
"Am I really that scary to you?"
You stare at his face for a short moment in shock, eyeing his pout with something between incredulity and sheer horror. You've seen Mingi angry, you've seen him in a battle fueled rage, you've seen him smile when Captain is smiling and you've seen him screaming for his life, but a pout?
A shiver runs up your spine at such a foreign expression on his face.
"I must be, huh..." The quartermaster grumbles unhappily under his breath as he shakes his head. Then he pinches his cheeks with his fingers, twisting the skin there before he turns to face you again with some distorted growl on his face.
You nearly scream with shock.
"How do I look now?" He asks you, his deep voice muffled because of the strange shape his mouth is in. It takes you a long moment, but you eventually realise he's trying to pull his lips into a smile.
You don't know whether to laugh or cry at his efforts.
"You look... like you're smiling." You manage to lie through your teeth and finally Mingi gives you an actual smile that is miles better than his terrible attempt, a gummy one that shows off all his teeth and actually makes something in you soften a little. But soon it slides off his face into a more serious look and he sits down on the sand, patting the ground next to him.
"Sit down for a moment."
You're a little surprised at his abrupt change of attitude but still do as he says. The sight from here is surreal, the orange rays of the setting sun making the water sparkle like a sea of emeralds, turning the sand a luminescent pink-orange, as if they're fresh coals from a burning fire.
You stay quiet for a moment, taking in the view, a little lost in how beautiful this place is.
"I wanted to talk to you." Mingi begins and you turn to glance at him, a little curious. Why would the quartermaster want to speak to you now, of all times?
"Alright." You nod hesitantly, and Mingi begins to speak.
"I apologise for my behaviour back then." Your eyes widen in confusion at why he would say such a thing. Mingi has never done you any wrong, not in the whole time you've been on board this ship. Seeing your stunned expression, he quickly explains.
"Back then, when Yeosang got shot and Captain got whipped... I blamed you."
Ahh, so that's what he wanted to talk to you about. But part of you still doesn't understand why he would be apologising to you.
"But you didn't do anything to me." You tell him, frowning a little. Unless he pulled a Hongjoong and threw something of yours away in secret, you can't think of anything he could have done to you. Then you touch the necklace under your shirt carefully, suddenly irrationally afraid he might have done just that.
Mingi shakes his head. "No, I didn't, but my attitude was wrong. I should have tried to understand, at the very least, even if I was worried about Hongjoongie-hyung. I hope you can find it in you to forgive me."
Once again, you're stunned by how kind this crew can be. It's true you've never spoken much to Mingi before, so you don't know him very well, but you don't think anyone would actually apologise for having wrong attitude.
"Of course." Is all you manage to say. Mingi exhales in relief at that, as if a massive weight has just been lifted from his chest. You smile a little at him, realising that maybe under that tough looking exterior, Mingi is as soft as San's plushies underneath.
"You're really loyal to Captain, aren't you?" You say softly under your breath, but Mingi hears anyway and nods without a second's hesitation.
"We've been together since the beginning, even before he became the Captain of the Treasure. In a way, he saved my life before." The quartermaster tells you and your eyes widen slightly.
"Really? How?"
"Before Hongjoong took over the Treasure, it was called the Arrow. It was captained by my uncle, who was working under the Royal Navy. Because Hongjoong-hyung has the blessing of a sea god on him, he was tied to our mast as a charm to ward away storms." Mingi explains softly and your jaw drops, turning to stare at him. Your captain was tied up to a ship as a child?
"I was the cabin boy to my uncle at that time, so I brought him food and water." Mingi reminisces the times of years ago, when Hongjoong was still a young boy, struggling to survive each day alone with his own strength. "He never stopped smiling, not even once, no matter how badly my uncle mistreated him or called him a sea monster in human's skin. I remembered I was so stunned by how a person could continue to burn so bright that even the worst of storms couldn't put him out."
You know what he's talking about. From the first time you met the captain, you've seen that fire blazing in his eyes, never giving up, never surrendering, never bowing to fate.
"Then one day, I think he snapped after seeing my uncle torture an errant ship mate. They keelhauled him to death and Hongjoong-hyung was never the same since." Mingi murmurs softly and you frown, a little confused.
"Keelhauled?" You repeat after him and Mingi nods grimly.
"The act of tying a person to a rope and throwing him over the side of the ship, before pulling him against the barnacles of the heel. The person is usually torn to shreds because of this." The quartermaster tells you and you can't help but shiver at the description of such inhumane torture.
"Then there was a massive storm at sea. More than half the crew perished, so my uncle begged him to save them. He had mercy on them and piloted the ship safely out of the storm, but then demanded my uncle give the ship to him in payment for their lives. My uncle agreed... and here we are."
You're in shock after listening to that story. You weren't aware that your captain had been through so many hardships before becoming the Pirate King of the Seven Seas. But there's another question you feel like you need to ask.
"But... you all don't really seem like bloodthirsty pirates, though." You say hesitantly. "Why is Captain called the Pirate King? Why are so many people afraid of him?"
Mingi pauses in rocking back and forth absentmindedly, staring at the way the sun is dipping behind the waves. The sea and sand are red now with the light of the setting sun, making the place look like the remains of a battlefield, the water before you like a sea of blood.
"Before you knew us... Captain really wasn't a nice person, you know?" Mingi says softly, lying back on the sand to look at the darkening sky. You pause, a little stunned. "I'm not going to sugar coat it. He may have been nice to those he considered his crew... but to anyone else? Those who met him never lived to tell the tale."
You're shocked. Your captain, Kim Hongjoong, the one who endured a whipping for you and the crew, the one who had promised Seonghwa to stay by him no matter the trouble, the one who had gone red just from a hug... had been such a cruel man?
"Wooyoung too, actually." Mingi murmurs, shaking his head. You flinch at the name of the man who'd given you the pin you're wearing in your hair. "He was a dangerous, dangerous man, to the point even I was afraid of him. Maybe you haven't had a chance to see him when he's in one of his... moods, but then again I pray you never have to see them."
"But-" You try to argue, completely unable to see Hongjoong and Wooyoung as anything but your kind captain and mischievous partner in crime. Mingi cuts you off before you can say anymore.
"It's not my story to tell. Anyway... I think they've been getting better, you know?" The quartermaster tells you quietly, just as the sun finally sinks beneath the waves. The sky is still lit by a little reddish glow, but you're sure that will fade soon too.
You bite your lower lip, still desperate to know what exactly Wooyoung and your Captain could be hiding behind their usual smiles, but then Mingi gets up, stretching his arms above his head.
"Anyway, Chin Hae, we should be getting back to the ship." The quartermaster holds out a hand to help you off the ground and you take it, pulling yourself to your feet and dusting off the sand from your knees. You guess your many unanswered questions will have to wait until another day then.
The two of you walk back in companionable silence to the small town, stepping onto the brick lain ground once more. It's a little late now, which explains the different air to the area, there are people in the streets dancing with each other with big smiles on their faces to several busking performances here and there, and the atmosphere makes you smile as well.
Until someone bumps into you.
"Ouch!" You say, turning around to see a young boy dressed in rags and barefoot. He's skinny, probably a little malnourished, and he's holding a small basket in hands filled with folded slips of paper.
You don't know how your eyes immediately find him in the crowd, but you do. And you gasp in shock.
He grins brightly at you. "A treasure map for you, miss?"
Because his eyes are swirling with colours once again, blue, grey, brown, every shade in the world you can think of, except one that you just can't help but feel like you're missing. Just like that old man from before...
You force the thought away. This is no time to be thinking about that. Mingi frowns when he realises you're no longer at his side and turns around to look for you.
"Chin Hae?"
"How much is one?" You ask, bending down to look at the young boy, trying not to show how much his eyes unnerve you yet trying to figure out exactly what colour his eyes are. The boy smiles in a way that only reminds you of your master, pure, innocent and utterly joyful.
"One silver!" He says and you reach into your pocket to pull out the coin.
But then the boy suddenly swipes the hairpin from your hair and makes a break for it, nimbly streaking past the partygoers and disappearing down a secluded alleyway, much to your horror.
"Hey!" You shout, completely forgetting about getting back to the ship and you dash after him, your feet flying over the cobbles. Mingi starts in surprise when he sees you tearing in the opposite direction you had been going and calls your name.
"Chin Hae! Chin Hae, where you going?"
You don't hear him over the sound of the guitar and singing. Instead, you focus on catching that damned street urchin in front of you, because you'd rather die a thousand times than lose the hairpin Wooyoung gave to you.
Happy Birthday, Chin Hae-ah.
You can't lose that. No way in hell. You press on, chasing him out of town until your boots crunch against soft, dry sand and you're pushing through a grove of trees, past the beach you had been to earlier with Mingi and even further beyond that.
You finally lose the boy when you stumble onto a small, craggy beach. The waves crash against the rocks at the shoreline, breaking the waves and turning the water white with seafoam, but you can't be distracted by the beauty of the place now. You glance around, desperately trying to search for the boy who had stolen from you.
The beach is utterly empty except for you.
"Are you looking for me?"
You whirl around in shock, heart pounding in your chest to see the little boy from earlier standing there at the treeline. Somehow, you hadn't even noticed him as you ran past him onto the beach. You flare up in anger at the calm, unruffled smile on his face, your hairpin in his hand and the basket of papers in the other.
"What are you trying to do, kid? Stealing from me? Seriously?" You spit, starting to march over to get your hairpin back, but his next words stun you right in your tracks.
"It's the only way I could get us alone. This hairpin is precious to you, isn't it?"
"What?" You aren't quite sure if you heard him correctly, because if this kid had just told you he had stolen from you so you could be alone together, there must be something seriously wrong with him. Then fear wells up in you. Is he going to murder you and hide your body in the sand?
To your shock and anger, the little boy starts laughing, first with a hand over his mouth, then full belly laughs erupt deep from within. You don't know why he's laughing, but you don't like it and your lips pull back into a snarl, your fingers twitching for the handle of your cutlass.
"Give my hairpin back and I might not be tempted to kill you." You snap, but the boy, even though he's unarmed, merely wipes the tears of laughter from his eyes with a hand before he looks at you once more.
"Well, I'm sorry for making you come all the way here, but I just wanted to be here with you again. It's been so long, after all, since we were alone together."
Your breath catches in your throat.
What?
"Wait... Wait..." You stumble over your words, not quite able to process his statement. Everything is whirling past you now, questions and words flooding your mind until you shut them up fiercely, forcing yourself to ask only one question at a time. "First of all, what do you mean by you made me come all the way here? As far as I know, an old man with weird eyes running a bookshop in Havana gave it to me..."
And then you trail off, because this young boy has the exact same eyes as that old man, various tones and tints flickering behind his serene gaze, never quite staying the same for long as if it cannot decide what colour to choose from. It hits you as hard as a battering ram, the air escaping from your lungs in a gasp.
"You're... you're in cahoots with that old man?" You breathe, but the little boy shakes his head with an amused smile.
"Yes and no." He answers vaguely and for some reason, you feel like you aren't going to get anymore answers from him about this. For a moment, you briefly wonder if you're going crazy.
"Alright." You mutter to yourself, wracking your mind desperately as you try to come up with answers. "How about you tell me why the hell you wanted us to be alone together?"
Then the boy meets your gaze calmly, and your eyes fly wide in shock.
Because his eyes are green.
You don't know how to describe the exact shade they are. Green as fresh leaves in the spring, when the flowers begin to bloom and the sun kisses the earth with its gentle rays. Green as the moss that creeps over the trees in the cool air of morning, even before light touches it with wandering fingers. Green as emeralds forged deep within the heart of the earth. Green as the shoots of hope breaking out from the ashes of destruction.
Green as the eyes in your dreams.
What he is comes to your mind like an old, forgotten memory.
"******."
But the word comes out as a muffled, unspeakable cry and your hand flies over your mouth. You had tried to speak his identity with your clumsy, human tongue, a word of so much power and majesty that no living mortal in this world would be able to say physically. Already, just from knowing it in your mind, you can feel a painful throbbing in your skull at how unworthy you are to stand in his presence, how insignificant you are compared to something like him, how powerless you are before him.
You crumple to your knees in the sand, the word echoing over and over in your head as if it's taunting you with your inability to say it out loud. But you know it, you want to cry out so desperately, you want to call his name and return to his embrace where you belong, back to him.
Flashes of colour slam into your mind.
"Oh dear." The boy shakes his head as he steps towards you. "It seems as if my presence here is bringing up memories in you that you can't remember just yet."
His fingers brush your temple and suddenly the painful pressure on your mind easens slightly, you hunch over on the beach, shaking from the agony you were experiencing just seconds ago. You're gasping and panting from the pain of it, and suddenly, you can't remember his name anymore.
Terror floods through you. Did he just-
"Ahh... I thought this island was small enough so my presence wouldn't affect you too much, but I was wrong." He steps back from you, but his voice is a little sad. "I'd better leave fast."
Your eyes fly open, desperate to catch one last glimpse of his face, except that there is none.
His features shift and blend together and he now stands before you as a young man about your age. You can't make out his face, every time you catch a glimpse of his nose or jaw it changes and the memory flees your mind. It's terrifying, losing your memories the moment you make them. You desperately try to grab them, but they escape like smoke through your clenched fists.
"You were right, they didn't understand and think that you're trapped." His green eyes are the only thing that you can keep your focus on. "They'll try to bring you back to them at any cost, even if it ends in death."
The word scares you like none other. Who doesn't understand?
"But I'm glad you have a name now, Chin Hae. I told you, didn't I? That I believed that you could make the right choices? Everything is working out according to plan."
Shivers run across your entire body as something pounds desperately in your mind, screaming at you to remember. You're terrified. What plan is he talking about? According to plan? What plan?
"I hope you'll manage to see the witch. You're almost there. Just hold on a little longer."
His words are starting to swirl together in your mind and you collapse onto your back, spasming involuntarily. Every part of your body is haywire, every thought running through your mind crashing here and there and you don't know what to think anymore.
"Don't forget, I'm with you every step of the way."
He presses a gentle kiss to your forehead, before he stands and walks away from you to the treeline.
"Don't go!" You want to scream, but you can't move a muscle. The desire in you is so strong, so overwhelming that it swamps every other thought in you, the yearning taking over your body, so painful that it's almost physical. Suddenly, there's a tug in your gut and a rushing sound comes from behind you, from the ocean.
You close your eyes tight against the sea wave as it rushes inland.
A massive wave of seawater sweeps over you towards the man walking away, as if attempting to hold him back for you, but he simply turns to face the incoming tidal wave with a fond grin, completely devoid of fear.
Then he gives you one last smile, green eyes shining, and by the time he vanishes into the shadows of the trees, you've already forgotten his face. The waves pull away, slowly, regretfully as you lie there in the wet sand in shock, staring at the night sky above you.
"Chin Hae!"
Stars glittering like diamonds in the inky black sky.
Your heart stops for a moment.
White sand stretches before you, the roar of the ocean waves crashing on the rocks filling your ears.
Your eyes glance around you urgently, salt in your mouth. Your breath catches in your throat when you finally realise where you are.
It's the beach from your dreams.
"Chin Hae! Chin Hae! Are you alright?" Suddenly Mingi fills your vision as he supports you with strong arms, one finger coming up to your face as his eyes widen with horror. "Your nose is bleeding..."
You aren't exactly in the right state of mind to answer him.
Mingi wipes it away, before glancing at you in a panic. "Chin Hae, what happened? Why did you suddenly run off like that?"
"Someone stole my hairpin..." You finally manage to croak out weakly, but that seems to pale in comparison with the sheer magnitude of what has just happened. Then you remember why exactly you had been so desperately chasing after that boy, how you had come to this place. "My hairpin!"
You force yourself up into a sitting position in spite of the exhaustion and the way every inch of your body screams in protest, only for your mouth to fall open in shock at what you see.
The wave from earlier must have destroyed everything, every tree on the beach has been violently felled, smaller patches vegetation like grass have been clean swept away. The trees have been smashed to driftwood, tiny broken pieces littered here and there. It looks like the disaster site of a tsunami, although how it happened, you have no idea.
How did you even survive?
Mingi helps you up as you attempt to stand on shaky, feeble legs, stumbling towards where the man had disappeared. Like a single silver flower blooming on the beach, you see your hairpin stuck upright in the sand, right where you had last seen him, surrounded by wreckage. You kneel before it, picking up the hairpin with trembling fingers and clutching it to your chest fiercely, tears of relief sliding down your cheeks.
But then you realise there's something stuck to it.
You hold it out in confusion to see one of the little boy's treasure maps pinned to it. You stretch a hand out, brushing your fingers along it in shock.
It's dry.
Your mind finally gives up on trying to make sense of everything and you crash to the ground, exhausted beyond imagination. You can hear Mingi flapping around in the background, clearly in a panic, but you don't have an ounce of strength to reassure him that you're not dead.
Your eyes slide shut.
Just for a bit.
You're back at the beach again, but this time the stars are a little brighter, the water a little more crystalline, the sand smooth and pearly under your fingertips. The man with the green eyes is still standing before you with the knife in hand once more, the sharp tip pressed against your chest.
"I'll be with you every step of the way." He vows.
The blade sinks into your chest.
But there is no pain, no blood. Your skin and flesh merely comes apart cleanly, the clay vessel built for you is in no way powerful enough, even if it was built by the sea witch and infused with as much magic as a physical item can hold.
He opens up the empty cavern that is your chest, and puts down the knife. You look down at it, a poor substitute for a human body, but then he raises up something in his hands.
A heart of clay.
You blink at him in surprise. "What is this?"
"I can't complete your trial for you, but I can give you this." He places it in your chest gently, before pressing both hand over the gaping hole. You feel the clay mending itself back together, the hole in your chest closing.
You stare at him for a long, silent moment.
Thump.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
You gasp and air rushes into your lungs for the first time in your existence, you feel the wind on your cheeks and the smooth clay of your body turning into warm skin and flesh, you can feel the blood rushing in your veins. There was powerful, powerful magic in that heart that now resides in your chest, pumping blood through your body.
A sob tears itself from your chest.
"Thank you." You whisper, feeling your breath escape you with each word. "Thank you so much."
He merely smiles at you fondly, reaching up to brush your hair from your face. "It's only temporal, so you need to do this fast, alright? If not..."
Suddenly his voice fades in and out, here but not quite, sounding from all around you.
You want to take his hand and ask him what exactly will happen, but then the dream vanishes into thin air, leaving nothing but white noise behind.
"...Y** *i** *et*** *o **a*."