Somewhere Between the Sea and the Sky.

Episode 3: Chapter 2.

"What am I supposed to do now?!"

He shouted, the tall and imponent young man had no doubts on his mind. It wasn't easy to make Mingi angry, but he sure was furious at the moment.

"Just— Forget it like nothing ever happened?!"

"You'll just get yourself killed!"

The other one didn't scream less than his partner, Yunho's gestures were exaggerated and clearly nervous.

"Is it really more important than your life?!"

"It is my life!" He closed his eyes for a moment, frowning as he took a deep breath that failed to calm him down. "It was supposed to be our life. Together."

"This is not about us, Mingi." He got closer to the brunet, stopping right before touching him in case he didn't want him to. "We will figure it out. We can start again, whatever it takes. But you can't just—"

Then, everything froze. The scene stood still, the two boys showing expressions full of doubts and pain. They seemed to be in a modest house, one single room that had everything they could afford. A home.

And in just an instant, the image disappeared like the wind blew it away. The memory changed into a whole different picture, and the new scenery appeared first. There seemed to be ruins of an old city, but most of it was nature claiming what was hers. In the middle of an abandoned street invaded by peculiar trees and roots, a figure seemed to be waiting for the spectator.

"I see. Is this where you want to be?" The man spoke, his image blurry and distorted. "Alright. Then let it be."

And after saying that he laughed, a painful and tragic laugh that would make anyone freeze if they heard it coming from such a... man? After that, he stared at whoever was watching, his eyes glowing red under the darkness of the night.

Then, everything stopped again.

Yunho woke up.

He felt dizzy because of the recent dream, and his mind was struggling to find out where he was. Yunho was used to the bunk beds from the White Army ships, the unstable hammock he woke up in was a whole different story. He felt the fabric against his skin, but not in the nice way one would feel their bed sheets; it was rough and invasive, like the bed itself was trying to strangle him. When he finally managed to open his eyes, he realized.

The Aurora.

He tried his best to get out of the damn thing without making too much noise, giving himself a moment before stretching all his body a bit. The only good thing about the new bed was that he was free from bumping his head into the ceiling of the room; he was too big for the upper bunk bed. As soon as he actually felt his body, he finally looked around him. There was someone else sleeping, and it wasn't hard to imagine why. Yunho perfectly recalled the condition of the lieutenant back in the last island, Seonghwa deserved a long rest.

But it felt so weird, gods.

Weeks ago he fought him, won and brought him to prison, he almost got the guy executed. And there he was, left alone with the sleeping beauty. It sure was a great chance to fix his mistake and go back to the Army with full hands; in his opinion, the lieutenant was much more valuable to the White Army than anyone else on the crew, captain included. He was an unstable weapon, one single man who murdered many.

Yet, he couldn't get himself to indulge the thought.

They were alike, after all.

Yunho was still deciding on what to do, to be honest. Ateez dragged him out of the army, took him as a prisoner and then accepted him as one of them, even leaving him to sleep next to the most dangerous (and the one with the greatest reward) member of their crew. He didn't know well if they were too naive or saw something in him, maybe they trusted Mingi too much. Should he betray such confidence and go back to his life? Should he accept such a different fate?