IN THE MIST | seongjoong

02

"I'm sorry, how do you plan to keep a siren on this ship?" Wooyoung asks once Hongjoong has finished explaining what the nymph had told him.

"Yeah, look, it's cool that you have a nymph telling you how to capture a siren, but it's a siren." Mingi backs up Wooyoung and Hongjoong sighs.

"There has to be a better option." Yeosang says, no one too eager to risk their captain in siren infested waters.

"I appreciate that you're all concerned, but I trust her. She wouldn't send me to my death." Hongjoong says with a pointed look at each of his members and Wooyoung huffs.

"A siren would, though." Wooyoung mumbles and Hongjoong frowns.

"You guys have to trust me on this." Hongjoong says and silence grows in the air. He understands that his crew is worried about him, uneasy with the mysterious orders from a nymph they had barely seen for a few minutes. She was guiding him towards death, the way they saw it, but Hongjoong really did trust her, and if he did, so would they.

"I trust you, Hongjoong." Yunho speaks, breaking the growing silence, "I mean, we all do. If this is what we need to do, then we'll do it." Yunho looks at Hongjoong with determined eyes and Hongjoong grins, glad to see the eagerness and stern look of Yunho that means his crew will be soon to follow.

"Fine. Sure. Let's do it." Wooyoung says sourly, but he narrows his eyes at Hongjoong, "But if you die, I have claim to your treasures." Hongjoong laughs as San whines with a huff, complaining that it would be both of theirs and Wooyoung waves him off with a small agreement that they'd share. He knows Wooyoung would never wish for his end, even if it meant all the treasure he could get.

"Great. Tomorrow night then." Hongjoong claps his hands together and although others look uneasy, he grins as he gestures to the food at their table with a wicked grin, "C'mon now, dig in. We have a siren to capture."

– – –

They anchor the Mist in the calm and clear water of the Neveah Sea, the sun shining bright. It was a sea known for his endless glimmer, even when night falls. It was the most gorgeous of all seas and the water was so clear that if you swam in it, you could see for miles. Hongjoong's not sure why sirens would reside in such clear waters, but he thinks that the water might be different when night falls if that's when the nymph had advised him to go out.

It had been years since he'd been in the pristine sea and back then, he hadn't known what dangerous creatures lurked within. He wonders how many people had swam in these waters without a clue to the gorgeous killers whose song would be their demise. How odd that it was just a myth of the siren's home being the Ebon Sea. It had never been questioned considering it was dangerous waters, just like the creatures themselves. And no one had ever returned from the sea to argue that no sirens lived there. Hongjoong bites his lip, hand moving the necklace around his neck—the one the nymph gave him.

Yunho hasn't been able to decipher anything in the journals about what the necklace might mean or anything that might aid them in capturing the sirens. However, Yunho had learned that there was a tale of an ancient spell that would capture a siren's song. There wasn't much other than the mention that the person with the siren's song controlled the siren.

It made Hongjoong wonder if he should pay a visit to his witch back in Trader's Isle should he capture the siren tonight.

"Capt?" Hongjoong turns to Yunho who approaches him, leaning over the rail of the ship beside him.

"Is something wrong?" Hongjoong asks, looking at Yunho who looks over the water and to the setting sun.

"Tonight, if anything goes wrong—"