Somewhere Between the Sea and the Sky.

Episode 2: Chapter 8.

Yeosang learned a lot in the little time he spent with Ateez. They taught him how to check the sails, how to reload the cannons and how to read a map. He even managed to serve a drink despite the movement of the wild ocean, a real feat coming from someone that hadn't served anything to anyone during his entire life.

After some time, Yeo didn't know well why the lieutenant decided to teach him that instead of how to fucking react when being left alone with an enemy pirate crew.

Damn it, Seonghwa.

The prince found himself in front of the enemy ship, the one belonging to the mysterious Oneus.

Let's get rid of the trash.

Yeosang's mind kept repeating those words again and again. The trash was obviously Ateez, and the guys had a good record of victories. Or at least Yunho said so, and Yeo knew well the soldier had no reasons to lie to them.

Upon the possibility of them being a menace to the Aurora, Yeosang decided to take them down before it happened. The problem was that he had no idea of how to do it, and even if he was physically strong the others were two guys and probably more skilled than him. The lack of experience would be his greatest weakness during his whole life, wouldn't it?

Before he could even notice, the ethian prince found himself on board of the enemy ship as he tried to discover the enemy crew's intentions. Both guys, the blond and the red haired, entered the room supposed to be the captain's cabin. The door was closed, but that wouldn't stop him from doing his job.

Right?

He tried to be as discreet as possible and found himself of said door without trouble, the Oneus crew probably assumed no one avoided their first attack. Yeosang took a deep breath, carefully laid his clawed hands on the door and paid attention to whatever happening on the other side.

"—my brother's letter warned us, but I can't believe it was that easy."

The prince recognized the voice as the one belonging to the red haired.

"If the Specialists are still following them we'll be in trouble."

The other one replied, the blond one he supposed. His deep voice managed to impress Yeosang.

"We should leave already, this island doesn't have what we are looking for."

"They wanted more time, as always..." The guy sighed then. "Youngjo can get rid of them fast, but I'm not so sure about those freaky soldiers."

"Huh," The blond went silent for a moment. "Let's focus on eliminating Ateez for now. They have a soldier with them, I guess they made a deal with the Specialists after all—"

The conversation was cut by an external sound, a gasp Yeosang failed to contain. After noticing he covered his mouth with one hand, a hand that clumsily scratched the wooden door with huge monstrous claws.

He heard nothing else from the other, not even steps.

That could only mean one thing, they understood someone was listening.

He had been discovered.

⸻⸻⸻⸻

"That was mean..." The demon almost muttered, checking on both his own crew and Ateez. "Is everyone alright?"

"I think so." Hongjoong said, checking on his own crew before looking at the merfolk. He seemed surprised too, and it made the captain wonder if they weren't trained to control their voices. "What was that...?"