Memories of the Sea I BTS X OC I

Chapter 6 - Spring Day

"Hoseok. You know, the helmsman?" Hae said, a bit incredulous. Still, Youra just looked at her, confused. She slowly shook her head. "Oh come on, are you kidding me? You don't know the name of one of your officers?", Hae was smiling now, but the woman at her side wasn't joining in.

Instead, she said, clearly uncomfortable with the topic: "Nobody really remembers their names, Hae. We don't really know why. They introduce themselves when someone new comes aboard, sure. But as soon as you look away – it's gone. Forgotten. It's eerie – if we lie at anchor for a while, the townsfolk recognize the captain and the others by their titles, like we do, but when we come back, a few weeks later, it's like they've never seen them before, even when they recognize most of us at sight. It's black magic, I'd say. A curse of some sort, and a pretty mean one at that."

Youra looked at the captain's table, clearly worried they would somehow notice that she was talking about them. Hae felt startled by the strange explanation, like it touched some corner of her mind she herself had nearly forgotten about. "That's certainly something", she muttered. Because she could clearly remember their names, and she didn't feel like she was in any danger of forgetting them anytime soon.

The conversation moved on, and eventually, dinner was finished. Usually, whoever was ready just left when they wanted to, but this time, the whole crew stayed, eventually falling quiet. The silence was strangely expectant, even eager. "What's going on?", Hae whispered, but Youra just hushed her. She turned back to the captain's table just in time to see that Namjoon was rising from his place, facing the rest of a room. The girl leaned forward. Was he going to give a speech?

The candles threw soft shadows on his face, giving his hair a golden sheen. He looked ethereal, like something taken straight out of a dream. His voice was clear, cutting through the silence like a knife. On the second verse, Jungkook joined in, smoothly, somehow transforming the song into something more than just a performance. One after the other, the officers of the Truth Untold began to sing, their voices weaving together, harmonizing, creating an intricate melody that was as beautiful as it was heart-breaking. They sang about loss, about the comrades that had fallen during the fight, who would be sorely missed. Who would be remembered, cherished, even if they had gone where no one could follow.

Hae had tears in her eyes. She hadn't even known any of the sailors who had died, but she still was touched by the music. It was an unexpected display, the officers had seemed so detached, so removed from the rest of the crew. The song ended on a soft note, sung by Seokjin, quiet and heartfelt. For a moment, nobody dared to make noise. The silence was tense, heavy with emotion, with shared grief. Namjoon and the others had formed a semi-circle, looking out onto the crowd. Hoseok was missing, and Hae wondered absentmindedly if the rest of the crew had even noticed.

Then somebody, somewhere at the back of the room, shouted: "A toast to the fallen!" The crew took up the cry, and drinks were raised everywhere. A sailor started to clap. Others followed suit, and soon, the room was filled with chatter and clapping, some sailors even whistled. They shouted the names of the friends they had lost, and soon, Teahyung started to sing another song. There was a pause, but after a moment's hesitation, the crew joined in, loudly. They seemed to know the song well, and their voices blended together almost seamlessly, with the Truth's lookout providing a guiding vocal line. The lyrics were melancholic, but strangely peaceful, repeating the lines "I remember the fallen, do they think of me? When their bones in the ocean forever will be" at the end of every chorus.

"Teahyung looks happy", Hae thought, studying the group. He had been joking around when she had met him high up in the rigging, content enough, but here, in the middle of the crowd, leading them, singing with them, he seemed in his element. Even Youra had joined in, arm in arm with the sailor at her other side, belting out the lyrics with conviction.