pirate king (pirate!au) ➵ ateez ✔️

sacrifice

The door to the sickbay creaks as you enter.

Yeosang is the only one lying in the cots, the other injured crew having cleared out to give the navigator some space and reduce the risk of infection. That must explain why there's nobody here, but that's all the better for you.

You pull out a small chair and sit next to Yeosang, mentally preparing yourself for what you're about to do. The sickbay is dark so you can't see Yeosang's face very clearly, but you reach for his fingers, giving them a tight squeeze.

He doesn't respond.

You exhale, gripping his hand tight as you study him for a moment. He's so silent, so still that you can count every eyelash that sweep his cheeks, watch the way his chest rises and falls as he draws weakened breaths. His skin is a waxy white, pale and bloodless, and you raise a hand to trace every part of his face.

His skin is unnaturally cool under your fingertips.

For minutes you simply sit there, watching him. It's a silent, intimate moment, your fingers intertwined with his, you breathe when he does and wait for it to happen. Only when your hearts start beating in tandem do you finally apologize.

"I'm sorry, Yeosang-hyung."

You remember the first time you had met, when he'd taught you how to address different people on board, when he comforted you before your first battle. A man of immense intelligence, great knowledge and a sagely wisdom. A person of infinite kindness, compassion and innocence. Your crew mate. Your family.

You bend down and rest your head next to his, hand in his. For some reason, you already know what is going to happen, you can feel it in your veins, from the way his every breath begins to weaken, from how every heartbeat is slower than the last.

You won't be able to save him in this stage with only a limited offering of your energy. Pouring what energy you have into his body, in your emotional state now, is only going to mess his body up even more. You'll wait, wait of his body to completely drain of his own energy, let his entire body still before you return him what he gave you; the gift of life.

An eternity passes.

Yeosang is approaching death.

A strange calm washes over you, as if you're standing at a beach with the tide lapping at your feet. You watch in silence as Yeosang's life slips away little by little, like sand in an hourglass, falling away with every passing second. It's almost time.

"Thank you." You whisper to him, gazing at his shut eyes as the sound of your heartbeat seems to meld with his. Something in you reaches out, like a wandering, probing hand, flowing through your joined fingers, up Yeosang's arm and into his body. You search for him, an intangible soft warmth that you can only describe as pure, holding onto it as tightly as you can. "Thank you so much for saving a wretch like me."

A part of Yeosang's inner consciousness shifts, something in him starts to struggle to awaken, as if he can feel what you're intending to do. Of course he can. Both of you are now connected almost as intimately as any two human beings can possibly be. The two of you are physically touching, you inhale when he exhales and your hearts beat together.

There's only one last thing left for you to do.

"No!"

You can feel him thrashing against your hold on his soul, even if he doesn't physically move the least. The most primal part of him, his subconscious, his memories, his character, his morals all rolled into one, the part of him that make the man before so wonderfully and uniquely Kang Yeosang. It's fighting against you, because it knows what you want to do.