Ocean's Descent ||| Woosan (Ateez)

40

Wooyoung had no idea how long he was stuck in the truck for. There was no way for him to track the passing of time, but he did know it was going faster than he would like.

His entire body burned. He had only experienced this kind of pain one other time, and it was when he had mixed a potion wrong back home. Mer Kim had spent hours working on him to help his skin heal.

That's also when he had learned about fire and its properties He was taken to an underwater cavern filled with lave. The heat had been unbearable...

Just like now.

The merman felt like ever inch of his body was being engulfed by that lava pool. It consumed his every thought, his every movement his every sound.

And this Mr. Kim seemed to ignore all of it.

He let Wooyoung on the floor of the truck while he made several phone calls, never looking away from the wall opposite him. It was like he was trying to ignore each whimper, each flinch, each groan of pain.

Or he just didn't care...

The pain was getting to the point where Wooyoung's vision was flashing between black and white.

He could feel his magic draining every ounce of strength from his body...

Maybe he should let it Tae him. Then he wouldn't fall into the hands of someone who wanted to use him.

As the pain kept growing and growing, switching from power thuds to sharp teeth-like punctures to feeling like his skin was being ripped from his body Wooyoung felt his mind growing weary.

But that didn't stop him from trying to focus on the only other sound besides the truck's roaring engine.

"Yes, Sir... We should be there soon... No... No... But I-... Yes..." From the little Wooyoung could pick up, it sounded like Mr. Kim was getting yelled at.

Good, served him right.

Another wave of pain shot through the merman's body, causing him to give a strangled cry as he curled in on himself. With his arms still tied behind his back, he couldn't even attempt to give himself any form of comfort.

And that's all he wanted right now... He wanted to know that he was going to be ok, even though, deep down, he new he was being eaten alive by his own magic.

Sometime later, it could have been minutes or hours, the truck finally came to a stop with a loud squealing sound.

Wooyoung ground his teeth together and shrank in on himself. He wasn't ready for whatever was waiting for him.

But he had no choice.

The doors flew open and hands gripped and tugged and pulled, adding to the overwhelming pain.

He was lifted out of the truck and dragged between two men, who held his arms much harder than they really needed to, up a long set of stairs. They didn't even bother lifting him high enough to get his feet up, so they knocked against each step, one by one.

Wooyoung tried to take in his surroundings as best he could, but all he caught was glimpses. Deep red floors. Some kind of weapons on the walls. More of the frozen people behind the invisible barrier. Glass? He thought San called it glass... Large, stone statues.

Then white. White halls, white doors, white clothes on the people.

It was too much. The burning was increasing. The urge to scratch at his own skin until he bled was getting to the point where it was utter agony. Tears flowed freely down his face and he couldn't stop the heavy sobs that made his chest hurt.