Mors Per Mare (ATEEZ FF)

19

"Has the little bitch been any trouble?" The voice sent a chill down your spine. It registered to you as Hongjoong's father.

"No, sir. She's silent as the dead and hardly moves." It was the guard that stood outside the door to the brig.

"You didn't let her die, did you?" He asked, a snarl in his tone. You could see his face scrunched into a sneer.

"No sir, she's alive." The guard answered quickly.

"Good. I'm going in." The door opened after he said the words and you stiffened in your place.

"Foul Wench." He greeted, a sadistic smile spreading across his face. "I've come to deliver good news." He said, leaning against the bars to get a better look at your face.

You met his eyes in the tiniest show of courage. You'd not lost your spirit yet and you'd be damned if he thought he was winning.

"Avert your eyes from me! You. Are Nothing!" He snarled, wrenching open the cell door.

You stood, scrambling into the corner and away from him. But he grabbed a chunk of your hair and pulled you to him.

"Wonbin won't save you now, evil temptress. You and I are too close to the Navy base's port, even his dearest love's imminent death won't make him risk his capture. He's a selfish bastard at heart." The man grinned, his rancid breath fanning across your face.

Something in what he said struck a chord with you. "And yet he taught you everything you know." You said, saying the first words you'd said in a month on board the navy ship.

You'd barely finished speaking when his hand met your face in a pain filled smack. Yanking your hair in a downward direction, you crashed onto the floor.

Just when he seemed done he sent three sharp kicks into your rib cage, making you cry out in pain. "But the student has surpassed the master." He snarled, slamming shut the cell door.

When all was quiet in the brig once more, you flipped yourself onto your back to lie in the cell, but the pain was killing you. Somewhere within you it register that you'd broken a few ribs and you let out a pained sob.

Quietly, you sang the song in a last stitch effort to call forth your love.

"Alone now, alone then
I knew all along this would be the end
The sea witch is my only hope
Will she save me from the hangman's rope
My choice to sail the sea
Has in turn brought death to me"

"Death by sea
Hear a desperate sailor's plea
How is this fair?
Mors Per mare."

"Mourn me, mourn them
I'm not alone don't forget my friends
The sea witch cannot save me now
Still to her, I'll always bow
For She needs, and she'll earn
the pirates praise for which she'll burn"

"Death by sea
Hear the sea witch's plea
Haw is this fair?
Mors Per mare"

But even before you finished the song, you knew that no one was coming to save you.

The smell of the infirmary filled your nose as you came to. But a pain in your ribs made you stop your stirring.

Hushed voices fill your ears and you concentrate on eavesdropping to get the pain off your mind. "Why did you come get me in the middle of the night, Yeosang?"

"I don't even know, myself. She was sleeping soundly one minute and the next I hear this horrible cracking noise. She's got 3 broken ribs, Captain. No one was here besides the two of us, but you don't just crack your ribs in your sleep!" He murmured urgently.

"Could this be a consequence for healing Wooyoung?" Hongjoong suggested.

"No, she was fine today, shouldn't she have shown signs of fatigue if it's a consequence from the healing?" Yeosang murmured.

You had to hand it to him, he had an excellent point.

"Why in her sleep?" Hongjoong murmured, thinking to himself.

Your eyes snapped open then."The dream." You answered.

"Y/N!" The pair shouted.

"I know why my ribs are broken." You said again, but Yeosang grabbed an herb from the wall and handed it to you.

"Eat this first, it's for the pain. And then you can tell us." He said, handing you a flask.

You ate and drank quickly, trying to remember every detail. "I was in a brig. There's a man there that looks just like the captain only older, and sadistic, and scary. He's a captain. It's always been the same, He comes to see me, I'm afraid of him and then he leaves. But today, it was weird. I- I fought back and then-"

"Today? You've had this dream a lot?" The Captain asks.

"It's always different, it's kind of like I'm living different days."

"You said he was a captain?" Yeosang asked.

"Y/N, why is my father in your dreams?"

"But Captain, I thought you said he wasn't a captain anymore. Didn't the navy promote him after he caught the witch?" Yeosang asked suddenly.

And then it clicked.

"They're not dreams!" You cried out suddenly. "They're memories! Her memories!"

"Her?"

"The sea witch! I'm reliving her memories in my dreams..." you froze suddenly, the information you'd been missing dawned on you. "And I wake up with her injuries."

"Captain," A voice came from the doorway, the strained tone in it signaled that whoever it was had heard your conversation.

"Jongho." Captain murmured uncomfortably. "What a pleasant... um surprise?"

"Cut the bull shit, Captain. How many weeks did she have left when she got to the Navy port?"

"6 weeks, she had 6 weeks." Hongjoong choked out after a very long moment.

"So if Y/N falls asleep 6 weeks from now, it's possible that she'll never wake up?"

"Yes." Yeosang answered, "it's definitely possible."

"No." The distress on his face was evident, and his voice sounded defeated. You sat up, ignoring the pain in your chest. "I thought I could finally make progress." He whimpered, like a kicked puppy.

"Jongho, you can still make progress." Yeosang tried.

"How!? I can't even look at other women, hyung! Y/N was the only one, Y/N... Y/N can't die!" He cried.

"I won't die, Jongho. I'll still be here, 6 weeks from now, you'll see." Your voice reaching a soothing tone that reminded you oddly of your mother.

"Y/N." He cried, kneeling by your side.

For all his battle axes, and tough boy exterior, you realized then that even though Jongho was well over 200 years old, he was still just a fragile child on the inside.

"Come here." You murmured, your arms opening to him. He sobbed into your lap, sniffling and puffing as he wailed. "It's gonna be okay." You murmured, running a hand through his hair in attempt to calm him down.

It didn't take long for him to go completely silent, definitely asleep after a hard cry like that. You looked up at Hongjoong and Yeosang then.

"It appears the witch has set her deadline, Captain. Just like in her poem, If I fail to mourn her now...then in six weeks, I'm as good as gone."

Hehehe, hiiiiiii. Notice the short amount of time between updates ehhh???? Happy??? I hope your still enjoying the story, things are seriously going to move really fast as we continue, so I'm sorry if things are a little confusing. Leave me some feedback on where you're confused so that during editing I can revise. I'm sorry that the chapter is a little bit shorter but I'm really trying to give you guys something extra since I'm not sure when I will update again. As you know, I love you all!
-BLT