The Treasure stops at Tortuga.
After the Cayman Islands, your captain has ordered the crew to set sail for Tortuga once more, sailing up the Windward passage between Santiago De Cuba and Hispaniola, citing the need to replenish supplies at the pirate town and get repairs on the Treasure done. And sailing is uneventful... for most part. It seems like the skies have finally cleared now, soft blue both in the sky above and the sea beneath, and you're enjoying the feeling of the sea breeze on your cheeks as you lie back on the forecastle deck with the morning sun gently warming your skin.
It's been a chaotic past few days, with constant worries taking a toll on your mind and the threat of Commander Kang taking you back to the Royal Navy on your mind. Unfortunately, you realise that you never quite got the chance to ask him why the Royal Navy wanted you, but there was nothing you could do about it now. On the bright side, though, your master had announced to the crew that the poison had successfully been treated with the antidote that Commander Kang had provided, and with sufficient food, water and rest, the young battlemaster would make a full recovery over time. He was fine, the ship would be alright, Commander Kang would no longer hunt you down, and everyone was happy.
"Why do you look upset?"
Well, perhaps not everyone.
You don't bother opening your eyes, recognising that voice with your ears alone. A small, meaningless smile quirks up one corner of your lips, more for his benefit than any real happiness, you've had a lot to think about, but neither do you really want to face them at all. Instead, you ask, "Are we there yet?"
"Captain says we should be reaching any time soon now." Jongho replies, the younger battlemaster taking a seat next to you on the deck, you can hear the planks creaking under his weight. Hongjoong had spoken about stopping by a small village along the coast of Cuba to stock up on fresh water before making the sail to Tortuga, but while the rest of the crew have been chattering excitedly about going onto land once more, some discussing about the things they want to buy Yunho to cheer him up while he's still confined to bed rest, but even though you try, you can't seem to build up any enthusiasm about it in the least.
"You still haven't answered my question." Jongho says abruptly, and you sigh, fondly exasperated, Jongho has always had a penchant for being straightforward and unabashed in asking questions that need to be asked. The silence drags on between the two of you, and finally you accept that Jongho is insistent on not leaving until you give him a satisfactory answer. Cracking open your eyes, you tilt your head to the left to look at the younger battlemaster, he's sitting cross legged with his cutlass lying across his lap, eyes fixed firmly on the ocean before you. In the distance, you see a line across the horizon, that must be the coastal village your captain had spoken about.
"I'm fine." You let your eyes slip shut once more, and you don't even need to see Jongho's expression to know he doesn't believe you in the least. You hear a clearly disbelieving snort escape him and your chest shakes slightly in amusement.
"You haven't been talking to Sanie-hyung for the past few days either." He adds on bluntly, and a soft breath escapes you involuntarily; he's noticed? Although, you suppose, it must have pretty obvious, you and your master used to be joined at the hip, and now, you can't even look him in the eye without seeing the pain there.
Pain you caused.
"I'm fine." You repeat again, more softly this time, as if you find it difficult to believe your own words. "I'm just..." You pause, rolling the breath around on the tip of your tongue as you attempt to find an appropriate word for it, "I'm just... tired."
Tired is the best word you can come up with at the moment. You're tired of so much, of the constant worrying if each day will be your last, of the repeated pushing away of your master even as he tries to convince you to tell your captain about your condition, of what will happen to them once you... once you...
Leave.
You want to tell someone, anyone, let your captain know. He could do something, you want to believe, but deep down somewhere, you know it's hopeless; there is no cure. Deep in your bones, you have been made to be something temporal, and to tell Captain, to make him worry for you even after he has done so much for you already, knowing that he will blame himself when he inevitably fails to save you... you can bear the dying, but not the guilt.
"I don't see how that has to do with you ignoring Sanie-hyung." Jongho tells you, a frown on his face and you find yourself staring at him, soft cheeks still rounded like those of a child, dark, earnest eyes that shine with only honesty and genuine concern. You remember the time back when he had rescued you during your first battle with the Royal Navy, how you'd accidentally shot him in the arm, how he'd treated you to pastries, how he'd sung so beautifully so many nights on the deck for the rest of the crew to listen to. You don't even realise you're staring until Jongho snaps his fingers right in front of your face with a confused expression, looking mildly worried.
"Chin Hae? Chin Hae, are you okay?"
"Oh, I'm okay." You laugh softly, there's something warm in your chest, like you're wrapping up those precious memories and holding them close to you, they're so warm they burn. You give him a bright smile, rise to your feet and stretch your arms above your head before he can say any more, grinning down at him, you'll miss him so much. "Why did you come find me in the first place? Was there anything you wanted?"
"No, I-" Jongho tries to say, but before he can continue, there are a set of quick, light footsteps behind you, and the two of you turn simultaneously to see Yeosang hopping up the steps, as fast as his feet can carry him and a grin so bright it rivals the sun. "Chin Hae! Chin Hae!"
"That's me." You say jokingly, amused as the navigator dashes up to you, bouncing up and down and excitement overflowing from him. "What is it?"
"I made something!" Yeosang holds your left hand, bopping up and down excitedly on his toes and you make an 'oh' shape with your mouth, Yeosang has been holed up in the captain's cabin for the last few days making something that he hasn't allowed anyone to see. "Do you want to see it?" He says, so thrilled you can't help but tease him a little.
"Hmm..." You rub your chin with your stump, pretending to consider the question, Yeosang practically hanging on to whatever that's about to leave your mouth. Then you sigh dramatically, shrug and say slowly, "Well... maybe I'm not that interested-"
The way Yeosang's mouth falls open sends you into a fit of laughter, wiping the small tears at the corner of your eyes, you tug at Yeosang's hand, ignoring the flabbergasted expression on his face. "I'm just joking!" You laugh, and Yeosang breathes out a sigh, clearly relieved. "Well then! Let's go see what you've been up to! Jongho-oppa, are you coming along?"
"Yes, but-" Jongho tries to say, but before he can ask you any more, both you and Yeosang already halfway down the stairs, chattering excitedly, and even though there's an infallible smile on your lips, Jongho can't help but feel something is very, very wrong.
>>>
"Okay, sit here!" Yeosang practically forces you to sit on the bed and scurries over to his work table, while Seonghwa might be the official carpenter of the ship, Yeosang too, has interest in developing his wood working skills in more creative ways. This time, he bustles around carefully at the worktable tucked in the corner of the cabin, snapping at you when you so much as breathe in its direction. With a resigned sigh, you simply flop onto the bed and stare at the ceiling, counting the number of boards there.
Jongho watches you silently, eyebrows furrowed in worry as he tries to figure out what on earth could have happened. He usually sleeps the latest, choosing to practice his guitar late into the night when everyone else is asleep, and realises that you've been sleeping much later than usual, not going to bed when you usually do, or choosing to be alone on the forecastle deck, like you had been earlier that day. And when he wakes up early for his morning exercise runs around the deck, you're already there, and he can see prominent dark shadows hanging underneath your eyes.
He worries. He knows he finds it difficult to speak his mind sometimes, but he watches, and he worries. This isn't like you. If he didn't know any better, he'd say you were avoiding San. And from the way you had subtly tried to avoid his question earlier, he's starting to believe that you are.
"Here!" Yeosang nearly trips over a stray book on the floor in his excitement but he doesn't seem to care, telling you to hold out your hand and close your eyes. Smiling, you humour him, squeezing your eyes shut, your left hand outstretched. And gently, you feel something hard being put in your hand, it's a little weighty, made presumably out of smooth, polished wood. Your fingers feel the sides, it seems to have an odd shape, and you tug at Yeosang's sleeve, even with your eyes closed, you know he's beaming uncontrollably. "Can I see it now?"
"Yes! Open your eyes!" Yeosang replies immediately, voice bright and bubbly, and you crack open an eye, full of anticipation as you gaze down at the object in your hand. And you freeze.
It's an oddly shaped object, made of two pieces of hard, dark coloured wood. They're joined in the middle by some sort of joint in a Y shape, two curved prongs protruding from a cup, the inside stuffed with wool. When you raise it up to your face to look at it more carefully, you see a long screw (where did he get that, hadn't Seonghwa told you those were pretty hard to find once?) connecting the two pieces beneath the joint. Each piece of wood seems to have been smoothed out carefully by hand, so they both curve beautifully towards the centre, but as intricate and amazing as it looks... what is it supposed to do?
"Uhm..." You frown a little, turning it over in your hand. Jongho looks similarly confused. "What... what is it?"
"It's a prosthetic hand! Wait, give me a second." He says, reaching for his worktable and pulling a mess of leather straps and buckles from the pile of tools there all while you sit there, simply confused. Prosthetic hand? What did he mean by prosthetic hand? A small dowel drops to the ground in his rush but he doesn't seem to notice, hurrying over to you and holding out the strap expectantly, as if you're supposed to know what to do with it. "Hold out your..." he says, waving vaguely at your left arm, and frowning, you raise it up to him. It's still covered in bandages, more for the sake of convincing your crewmates that the amputation wound is healing, but you know underneath the white cloth is skin... that hopefully isn't crumbling. Yeosang shifts to the left, taking the contraption from you and attaching what seems to be a leather harness to it, his fingers fly over the buckles so quick your eyes can barely follow him.
"Here, tell me if it hurts, okay?" The navigator looks so concerned you nod immediately, while Jongho rises from his seat at the captain's table to look more closely at what Yeosang is doing. Yeosang first slides the cup of the wooden contraption over the stump of your wrist, the woolen padding there fitting snugly around it, and then he pulls the leather straps over your forearm. One goes around the center of your arm, another just beneath the elbow crease, and another above. In the end, the device is strapped securely to your arm, and you shift your arm a little, studying the device at the end where your hand should be.
"It fits! That's amazing. I mean, of course it works, I made it to work, but..." Yeosang beams excitedly, moving forward to sit next to you on the bed. "Let me show you how it works... Jongho-ah, fetch me that cup on captain's table, will you?"
Still puzzled, the younger battlemaster does as he says, moving over to pick up the wooden mug there. Yeosang peers into the cup, realises there's still liquid inside and knocks it back before you can tell him to empty it into the sea instead, apparently too excited to bother moving over to the portholes. Then he makes a face of instant regret, wiping the back of his hand across his mouth and making a noise that sounds suspiciously like "rum-ugh" before he sets the cup to the side, taking the prosthetic hand in his flesh and blood ones and cradling it gently.
"Let me show you how it works." He says, and moves his fingers to the screw at the base of the cup over your stump. Both yours and Jongho's eyes follow in fascination as he unscrews the long metal screw. As he does, your mouth falls open at the sheer ingenuity of it, the further he unscrews it, the wooden piece that isn't attached to the cup slowly moves closer to its partner, thus causing the two pieces to come together. "Look, you can hold things with it." Yeosang says, as if you aren't on the verge of shock, and places the cup into its hold, before tightening the grip once more. When he's finally satisfied that it's not going to fall out, he lets go, and you feel the weight of the cup resting on your wrist, but it doesn't slip out of your hands, and he... he...
"It's amazing." You breathe, transfixed, and your right hand reaches up to loosen the grip yourself. When you do, the cup falls out of the grip and Jongho manages to catch it for you, even with his eyes comically wide and fixed on the mindblowing contraption in your hand. "This is amazing, Yeosang. How did you think of this?"
Yeosang has never looked as proud in the entire time you've known him, but he fights to hide the positively gleeful smile on his face, scratching the back of his head with shy embarrassment. "Oh, I didn't do much... Seonghwa-hyung helped with the woodwork and polishing... Captain was the one who's been staying up at night to come up with the idea. I just made it possible. I hope you-" He doesn't even manage to finish the sentence before you throw yourself into his arms, subconsciously trying to squeeze every bit of breath from his lungs just so he knows how grateful you are. Now that you look around, you can see scraps of paper tossed on the paper here and there, rough sketches done by your captain's hand, the aggressive crossing out and the amount of thought that has been put into this.
"Thank you, Yeosang-oppa... Thank you." You manage to croak out, voice nearly overcome with emotion. Yeosang beams at you, looking satisfied, his work has come to fruition, and there's nothing he could want more. Jongho lets out a sigh of relief too, glad that this has managed to get you to show some true emotion on your face, instead of the mild expressions that you've been wearing for the last few days, mere shadows of the lively, expressive person you had once been.
All of a sudden, there's the ringing of the ship's bell from above and the voice of your ship's quartermaster rings across the deck, down to the cabin and you perk up, Mingi's bellow drifting to your ears.
"We've arrived at shore!"