Long Journey || ATEEZ

Pirate King

There was quiet. Either he had managed to stun the crowd into silence, or they disapproved. Hongjoong stood, the last of his maddened energy fading away, and worry began to creep into his stomach again, reigniting those agitated butterflies, and they raced around in there, desperate to cause him as much discomfort as possible.

At last, one of the many in the crowd stepped forward. A girl, looking no older than seventeen, with long pink hair. Her eyes were stormy grey, and hardened from her experiences in the place of suffering children, mothers, men and women alike. It was the girl they had met the first time they had explored the ship.

"So what about our treasure?" she demanded fiercely. Though she looked foreign, she acted and spoke like a native. "What's the point? Our treasure. Will you even let us dream of that? The people taking us hostage promised us money and prosperity – our government promised us money and prosperity – then used us like expendable tools, for their own wealth and happiness. How do we know you won't be the same?"

The crowd murmured in agreement. The girl was right – what was this strange man even offering for them? What benefits would they reap from this deal?

"Hey you ungrateful bra—" Wooyoung started, stepping forwards angrily, but Seonghwa held him back.

"Let him speak," the demon said in his usual, calm, measured tone. "Hongjoong's the captain, I'm sure he can deal with it himself."

Wooyoung huffed.

"Hongjoongie-hyung's the one who saved them, and they're acting like we're gonna use them or something. I just think that's really unfair," he muttered.

"Try to understand them," Seonghwa advised. "They've been through a lot."

Hongjoong, meanwhile, stared at the small crowd, then at the girl. There was plausibility behind her words. Why would such damaged people trust him to hold power over them?

But he wasn't leaving today with 'no' for an answer. He wanted to help those people, and to do that, they had to trust him.

"You're right," Hongjoong mused, and the crowd made noises of surprise; this wasn't a reaction they had been expecting. "It would take me a lot of convincing to prove to you that I won't mistreat you like others before you. But," he added, asserting a quiet sort of authority, if that's what one would call it, "this ship, this journey, has been an age-old dream of mine – so I can't just let it go. So you," he said, pointing to the girl. "Come up here."

The girl looked taken aback, but tried to compose herself. She exhaled, and her eyes shone with a steely glint as she walked up the stairs towards the captain. She fixed him with a cold glare.

"What do you want," she asked, trying to make her voice as passive-aggressive as she could get it.

Hongjoong said nothing, and reached for his waist, unsheathing his sword from its scabbard. He held it out to the girl, who had backed away with aggressive wariness sparking in her eyes at the hiss of metal against leather.

"Take it," Hongjoong said. His voice was insistent, and he regarded the girl with an unreadable look in his eyes.

"Why?" the girl asked suspiciously, still keeping her distance. She still didn't trust the guy. There had to be some kind of secret trick, some hidden catch that might result in her injury or death.

But there didn't seem to be so.

Hongjoong reached forward and clasped the girl's hand onto the handle, then manoeuvred her arm forwards, so the tip of the blade, terrifyingly sharp, rested against his neck.