Young and Wild || seongjoong || ATEEZ

Chapter Thirteen : The Tale of the Walled Island

Chapter warning: mild gore

 Seonghwa remembered a long time ago he used to have this dream.

There was a very specific dream that would have him waking up in cold sweats all throughout the night when he still wore the crown on top of his head. It was a dream he swore would make him crazy, and even though the dream itself was not anything he would see in a nightmare, it was just a dream that left him feeling so incredibly empty when he woke up that he couldn't help but feel ill. That reoccurring dream he had back in his kingdom was a dream that had left him a little taste of heaven, something that spoke of what he could've had in his life, but left him waking up to a reality that was the farthest thing from what he really wanted.

It left him crying more times than not when he woke up from that dream. His eyes would be swollen and sore after because each time it seemed as if he had been one step closer to figuring out who the mighty flute player was that brought him such immense comfort, but was always ripped away a second too early for him to understand what his dream was desperately trying to tell him.

That had been years ago of course. Seonghwa had figured out that the dream that had tormented him for years was actually an event that was going to happen later in his life when he finally chose freedom. He had come to find that the ice-cold water that he would feel in his dream was the very ocean and the sweetest sound of a flute playing in the distance was no other than the Great Pirate King playing his flute for Seonghwa to wake up to on the ship. He could so vividly remember it- how he had woken up to see nothing but rolling waves as far out to the horizon as possible. He remembered seeing the sea in its entirety for the first time in his life, and how the giant black sails above him snapped against the masts to create thunder on a clear day. Seonghwa remembered seeing his captain first with the flute in his hand and a valiant smile on his face as he was once again reunited with his ship and crew after nearly being executed only hours before.

And of course, Seonghwa then remembered how he saw the captain's crew for the first time. He remembered their harsh yet slightly curious eyes looking at him as he was still drenched with the cold ocean water. He had still been wearing his royal robes at that time, and he knew it was no secret as to who his identity was and that Hongjoong's crew would've known he was a royal man just from looking at the gold stitching on his robes.

Seonghwa remembered how Wooyoung had asked him if he had his sea legs yet, which of course the young spy already knew the answer to that question but had still asked it anyway. He even remembered how San had given Wooyoung an odd look at his question but said nothing just like the rest of the crew.

"He doesn't have his sea legs yet. Do ye?"

Seonghwa could feel himself grow restless at the memory, the image before his very eyes starting to blur and fall away like he was once again waking up from a dream.

It was such an odd feeling. He couldn't move yet he was so restless.

Seonghwa then remembered how he could only stare at his captain when he had finally been able to move a little. He remembered the wild look in Hongjoong's eye when his gaze had fallen over his body that had been given the breath of life.

That was the moment when Seonghwa finally knew he had escaped. That was the first moment he had ever truly felt free.

And as if he was reliving that moment all those years ago, Seonghwa felt like he could cry from the memory. It was so grand that there were times that Seonghwa wondered if perhaps he had somehow died along with his mother that one fateful dawn of the red sun and everything after that was simply his afterlife.