Ocean of Tears [ON HIATUS]

Chapter 4

"W-What is happening?"

Jimin couldn't stop his stuttering at the sight. He looked so confused and tattered, trembling at what has happened to his lover.

Seokjin is stunned as well, sharing worried looks with Taehyung. They've never seen anything like this.

Hoseok has legs.

"What did they do to him?!" Jimin cries out furiously as he refers to the humans. He sobs and clutches Hoseok's hand.

Taehyung shakes his head and takes Seokjin's arm. "I've never seen or heard as something like this."

Before Seokjin could even reply, Hoseok's body twitched violently. Jimin flinched at the sudden movement.

Hoseok begins to cough, causing large amount of bubbles to come from his mouth. Jimin sits him up and tries to help. Taehyung rushes to the other side of him to assist.

Seokjin, on the other hand, observed the situation quickly then realized...

"Air."

That was the only solution he can think of.

"Air!" He shouts, getting the others to hear him. "He needs to get out of the water. NOW."

Taehyung hesitated for a second before giving a firm nod once he understood. He pulls Hoseok away from Jimin, who refuses to let go. "What are you doing?! He can't go back there! It's too dangerous!"

Hoseok begins to thrash around. Seokjin holds Jimin back.

"Go!"

Taehyung swims away, up to the surface.

Seokjin holds on to the merman for as long as he could before before thrown against the wall harshly of the little room. He winced and grabs his arm, which had been injured in the process.

"How could you do this?!" Jimin shouts. He swims out to where Seokjin thinks Taehyung took Hoseok.

He did his best to ignore the pain in his arm and follow shortly after. It took him a while to catch up to the others but he managed to find them on the beach. Luckily, Taehyung found a spot that is secluded.

Seokjin got onto the beach and sets himself next to Taehyung. He didn't realize how tired he got until he hears himself panting.

"Thank you."

Seokjin looks up and sees Jimin turn away quickly. He watches him squeeze Hoseok's hand.

"I'm sorry."

"It's alright," Seokjin says before noticing that Hoseok is not coughing anymore, but is in a daze with his eyes half closed. "Is he okay?"

Taehyung answers, "Once he caught his breath, he began to shake. Now he's... like this." They really weren't sure what happened.

Hoseok weakly turned his head towards Jimin. He slowly sits up and his husband holds him up.

"Jimin, what.... what happened?"

"It's..." Jimin couldn't even explain what exactly is going on. So he holds him tightly in his arms. "It's... going to be okay."

Hoseok sees his sand covered legs and began to whimper. Jimin calms him before he could panic.

Taehyung pulls Seokjin away to talk to him, leaving the couple alone. Once they were far enough to not be heard but can still see their friends, Taehyung says lowly, "I'm guessing that Hoseok will not be able to live in the ocean anymore."

"It seems so," Seokjin glances back at Hoseok and Jimin. Based on the situation, he already knows what the merman is going to suggest. As of now, Seokjin is the best option for Hoseok. He looks at him with a nod of understanding. "I'll do it."