Ocean's Descent ||| Woosan (Ateez)

44

"Wooyoung." Seonghwa said, his voice soft, floating gently through the air. "What a beautiful name. I'm not surprised you are the crown prince with how spectacular you look. Especially your tail. It's different from the others."

It was true, and always had been. Not many merfolk were blessed with scales of two different colors, but that wasn't what determined royal blood. The more extravagant the tail, with extra fins and designs, was what made royalty stand out.

Although Seonghwa didn't need to know that.

Wooyoung knew he could continue to play the game by saying as little as possible, especially if he didn't say anything when Seonghwa didn't ask him a question. He bowed his head, afraid of what the sudden change in his captor's tone meant.

"What is it about royal blood that makes it different from the others?"

"It has a deeper connection to the magic." Wooyoung scrunched his nose a little. That should have been obvious.

"Change." The order was sharp and to the point.

"I can't." Wooyoung answered quickly.

Seonghwa grabbed his chin once more and yanked up. The move was so fast and harsh that Wooyoung's neck popped, making him flinch. "Excuse me?"

"I-I need time to rec-cover. I can only use that strong of m-magic for so long." This time the merman lifted a hand to grab Seonghwa's wrist. His jaw hurt so much...

A deep hum answered him before Seonghwa stood, pushing Wooyoung aside at the same time. "Well that changes things. I don't have time to wait for that, so we will just have to start with other things." He walked over to the wall and pressed a button. "Doctor, get ready to begin the extraction."

The doors flew open once more and several men came in. They moved quickly to surround Wooyoung, then worked together to lift him off the ground and carry him into their lab.

Wooyoung paled when he saw it looked very similar to the one back at the aquarium...

"Please-" He started to squirm, trying to dislodge himself from the hands holding him. "You said-"

"I said no harm would come to the others." Seonghwa said from behind him. "But I need something only you can give me." A deep chuckle followed before he continued, "Which I'm very much looking forward to seeing how yours will differ."

Instead of being placed in a pool like before, Wooyoung was strapped to a wide table. Several belts were tightened around his tail, making it nearly impossible for him to move it. His hands were yanked above his head and secured, stretching his body to the fullest. He was pulled so tight, he could barely arch his back off the table.

"Thank you for giving yourself to me." Seonghwa leaned forward to whisper in his ear. "I look forward to spending the rest of what is going to be my very long life with you."

Wooyoung didn't understand what he meant by that. He tried to turn his head, but all focus on Seonghwa's statement was gone the second a scale was ripped from his tail.

His scream echoed in the room. It turned to one of frustration when his attempt to pull away was thwarted by a searing pain in his wrists from his natural reflex to try and pull his hands down.

"How many, Sir?" A woman asked.

"Start with ten. And get some blood too." Seonghwa said. He was still standing by Wooyoung's head. His fingers started to stroke through the merman's purple hair, as if trying to comfort him or ease him through the pain.

And if it were any other situation, Wooyoung would have probably felt good. He had always loved it when San rubbed his head like that.

Yet each scale yanked from his tail just reminded him of the awful situation he was in.