"You can stop trying to protect her," Seokjin said to Taehyung. "We both know you can't protect her from the trials."
Taehyung's shoulders dropped, but you could still see the tension in them. Seokjin waved to his own men - who were now also free from their cells - and gave them orders to continue sailing towards the light. They obeyed their orders, and Seokjin turned back to you and Taehyung.
"The Siren King will be very pleased with your delivery, Taehyung, I'm sure," Seokjin said, nodding to Jungkook and Jimin. "Especially so soon after the spiritual and physical realms have been united."
Taehyung swallowed but said nothing.
"That will work in your favor to get your wings back," Seokjin said.
"Your wings?" you asked.
Seokjin then turned to you. "Yes. The end of your cursed state. That's your goal as well, I take it?"
"I don't want anything," you returned with a roll of your eyes. "I only want to go back to my father."
He chuckled softly to himself. "Oh, Y/N. You really have no idea, do you? You have two choices: become a fully-winged, eternal siren once again, or be reborn into another useless human body after this life."
He stepped forward, looking down into your eyes. Taehyung stepped in protectively, but it wasn't necessary. You weren't afraid of Seokjin. You didn't understand why you should be.
"I have a hard time believing you don't want your real power back," Seokjin said to you after a moment. "I can already tell by your face that your soul has been through many lives to get to this current one."
"And what is that supposed to mean exactly?"
You honestly had no idea what it meant, but it felt insulting.
"Your soul is pure," he replied with an irritated sigh. "Which means that your soul has worked over a long period of time to redeem itself."
"Can you see why we were sentenced to reincarnation?" Taehyung asked warily.
Seokjin shrugged. "I could. With the right tools and a little of your blood, I can read your pasts easily."
"What is it with you people and bloodletting?" you asked.
Taehyung only chewed his lip and nodded, taking a step back. Seokjin eyed him for a moment and then nodded to Jimin and Jungkook.
"Finish giving the orders to your - uh - followers," Seokjin told Taehyung, "then take to the helm. I assume you can steer?"
Taehyung nodded respectfully.
"And do you know where the Den of Sirens is?" Seokjin asked.
"I have a general idea," Taehyung replied.
"Perfect. I know the exact location," Seokjin replied. "We should get there easily then."
Seokjin turned on his heel to attend to his men while Taehyung turned to walk towards his. You stood, confused for a moment, wondering who you should follow.
"Put them in the brig," Taehyung ordered his men, pointing to Jimin and Jungkook.
"You'll pay for this, Taehyung," Jimin swore, wincing as he shook his head. "Siren or not, I'll make sure you pay for this betrayal."
Taehyung only scratched his chin. "You know, you were much harder to charm than the others. I assumed it has to do with all that alchemy you dug into over the years. But nevertheless, I enjoyed the challenge to my powers. Because of you, I got much stronger."
The men started to drag Jimin and Jungkook off. Jungkook didn't look at you, but Jimin did. You had never seen his eyes so cold and vengeful.
You wanted to go to him and explain, but Taehyung pulled you back.
"You need to stay away from them, dove," he said softly. "The veil is gone now."
"What will happen to them?" you asked. "Why the sudden mutiny? And what was Seokjin talking about... wings? Taehyung, please..."
His eyes drifted towards the light of the Eros. With a shake of his head, he turned to leave.
"I need to get to the helm," he said.
You followed, close at his heels. "If you want me to trust you, Taehyung, you need to give me answers. Now."
Taehyung stopped and turned around, hesitating before opening his mouth to say something. He didn't get the chance to, however.
"I need you at the helm, Taehyung," Seokjin said behind you both. "Sail portside."
Taehyung nodded and left you without any answers. Seokjin eyed you for a moment.
"You seem to have a lot of questions," he said. "I assumed you knew all this already."
"I know myths and stories," you replied. "But nothing of this. What will happen to Jungkook and Jimin, and the rest of the crew for that matter?"
Seokjin cocked his head slowly to the side in thought. "They'll be tried. And most likely, since you and Taehyung both brought them in, you'll be tried as well. Should the King of Sirens find favor with you, I can give you a trial myself. Then I decide whether or not you get your wings and be freed from your curse, or I decide to leave you as you are."
He towered over you as he said it, the red light of the Eros illuminating his face. You lightly chuckled, straightening out your hair.
"Stop trying to be so intimidating," you said. "Is there a problem with being cursed? It's not like I can remember the reincarnation, right? So if I die, I forget everything again and start over?"
Seokjin rolled his tongue over his teeth, he didn't answer.
"I'm not sure how I can be afraid of you," you said, "when I don't know what there is to be afraid of."
He sighed then gave a crooked smile. "Then I guess you'll just have to see it for yourself."
He pointed behind you. You turned and looked over your shoulder to a large cavern sticking out of the water, the red glow bursting from the center of the ceiling. You had never seen such a cavern above the water; as if Aladdin's cave was breaking through the surface.
Seokjin ordered Taehyung to go straight into its mouth. The sounds of the ship echoed against the walls as the tips of the sails scraped the top of the cavern. The sunlight was replaced with the furious red glow around you. You stepped forward to look further into the cave, the patterns on the ceiling a ruby sparkle glow like gems were held in the crevices. Despite the red glow around you, it was somehow difficult to see ahead. You leaned forward to look, but there was only darkness.
Then the sea stopped.
You heard a voice shout your name right before the ship tipped forward, dropping into the darkness below.
Cold air burst against your skin and you felt your feet lift off the ground, right before two arms wrapped around your waist and pulled you back down on the ship. The ship plummeted further, then crashed against the water again, the sea spitting large waves into the boat and soaking both you and the deck. When the ship straightened and evened out, you rolled over to see the man who had rescued you from falling into the abyss.
It was a drenched and furious Seokjin.
"Why the hell would you get so close to the edge?" he scolded. "Did you even have the notion to step back from the edge of a damn waterfall?"
He picked at his drenched clothes and groaned.
"Well then next time keep your grubby hands to yourself and let me fall overboard!" you scoffed, coming to your feet. "No one asked you to help anyways, Your Honor."
He threw a few curses at your back as you walked away and tried to wring the water out of your clothes. Was there anything worse than soggy, cold clothes? Hardly.
...Maybe except finding out your friends hated you and that you may have been assisting them to their doom. That was good competition.
"Are you alright, dove?" Taehyung yelled after you from the helm.
You walked up to meet him, as he steered the ship.
"No," you replied. "I'm not alright at all."
It was silent for a moment.
"I know you're upset" Taehyung said, "but I didn't lie to you about who you are. And now we can join our family. Our real family."
You narrowed your eyes at him. "My father and mother are my real family."
"And Maria and her family were mine," Taehyung replied. "I remember it. But they're gone now. This is our true family. Y/N. Our bodies may be human, but our souls belong to the sirens."
"So what do you want me to do then? Just abandon my father?"
He shook his head strongly. "No. I would never ask you to do that. But you have to realize that you are far more powerful than you ever thought. What are you going to do with this knowledge? Go back to your arranged marriage and live a miserable life? Or use your power to create a balance in the world?"
You considered your answer. Yes, there was something bigger than yourself. You barely understood it, but you knew it was there. But you couldn't leave your father behind. You didn't care who - or what - you were. You didn't even care if he wasn't your real father. You weren't going to abandon him. You weren't going to let his heart break like that.
Not again.
"You didn't tell me about your plans for mutiny because you knew how much I cared for the crew," you said bitterly.
"Y/N --"
"Don't preach to me about trust." You wrapped your arms around yourself. "Knowing how much this would hurt me, why do you think you deserve it?"
You left him at the helm, returning to the deck alone.
The glow continued to flow through the caverns, and Seokjin shouted orders to Taehyung and the other men as you maneuvered through the crevices of the caverns. It was like an underwater maze, the boat hitting and scraping the sides as you got deeper and deeper. The cool air of the cave was the only thing keeping your nerves steady, but for some reason, it felt like you were breathing slower and deeper than you ever had.
After some time of sailing, the cavern opened up even more, stretching long patterns of ruby glitter across the ceiling like night stars. You could only look up in awe as you pulled up next to a long slab of marble stone, perfect to hold a ship in place.
"Is this... a dock?" you asked.
But no one answered. Seokjin was too busy looking at the ceiling to say a word. You almost jabbed him to ask him more questions, but when you heard the fluttering, you stopped too.
The ceiling was dark compared to the rest of the caves. The light should have reflected off the cavern ceiling, but it only seemed to get absorbed in the shadows.
Then the shadows moved.
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I'm back! :D
I'm happy to say that THE REBELLION is now COMPLETELY finished and is now off to the printer. There's still a list of things to do before the release in March, but I'm EXCITTTEEEDDDD.
I'll let you know when preorders are ready!!
I have been doing a lot of work projects, writing projects, and some school stuff, so things have been CRAZY. But, I did have some time to do a Jungkook drawing. Hope you like it. :)