VOYAGE I: Onwards To Utopia

Chapter 12

Whereabouts

It had been weeks since Donghun had seen his sister, and it had been weeks since he had any decent sleep. He wasn't as lovely as before, smiling and laughing. Now he'd just sit by the window and sigh, as he held that bottled up flower tightly in his hands.

The others worried about him, and felt sad for how he must be feeling. They'd try to cheer him up, but it could only lighten up his feeling for a short while.

They knew they had to find her soon, but they didn't even know where to start looking. Where would Ateez be going with her? And why haven't they tried to return her?

Jun couldn't just sit around and wait any longer, while his friend moped. They were going to search for her, to hunt Ateez down.

He stands up and leaves his quarters, marching towards the navigation room where a listless Donghun could be found, zoning out while staring at a wall.

Junhee could only frown as he sauntered towards the other, waving a hand in front of him as to snap him from his trance, but to no avail.

He resorts to lightly shaking the older on the shoulders."Hyung..hyung"he called, as the other slowly looks at him with uninterested eyes.

"You need to snap out of it, it's been weeks since you've been like this. She didn't die, she's just not here."Jun tells the other male.

Donghun looks away."It's no use Jun-ah, nothing matters if she's not here."he mumbles.

"For crying out loud, get up. We're going to look for her, so please just snap put of this miserable state, it's not like you."the Captain states with visible concern, both in his fave and voice."We'll dock at the next skyland first, to get some supplies and we'll hold a meeting for the search too."

***

"Damn, the winds are messing with us."Sehyoon rants while manning the wheel.

"Hasn't it been like this for a while."Kwan asked.

"It has, but lately it's gotten worse. It's a pain to sail through uncooperative winds."he replied.

"We should go see the skywitch, maybe she knows what's happening."

***

Jun steps into the witch's house, Donghun and Sehyoon following behind him.

"We'd like to know what's happening with the sky."Junhee begins."Is there something going on? The winds have been getting worse."

Claudine smiles knowingly."You know you're the second one to ask about such things. There was another crew here not long before you."she says."The sky is shifting, and the winds are acting up. Have you heard about my compass?"

"Yes, it points you to wherever you want to go, and you'll never lose your way."Dongun says.

Claudine nods."Yes, but that compass is not mine. It came from Utopia and is the reason for strangeness of the skies and wind."she remarks."But the crew that came here before you, agreed to take it back to Utopia to bring order to the sky."

"Which crew?"inquired Sehyoon.

"That I do not know, I never keep track of the names of crew that come here to see me."she chuckles."But I can tell you this, the Captain was definitely an admirable man. He wore a striking red coat and had an orange-ish hair."

Upon hearing the phrase 'red coat' the three had a small flashback about the events at the marketplace where the lady they asked said the same thing. They deduced that, it might have been Hongjoong and his crew who took the endeavor.

"Would you perhaps know where they currently are? They have my sister."Donghun asked.

Claudine plucks a strand of hair from Donghun which slightly startles the male. She then drops the strands into the boiling concoction in her cauldron and stirs while whispering inaudible words.

The three exchange glances, before once again staring into the pot as it started glowing and images could be seen.

"Shinji.."Donghun mutters as his sister's image appeared.

"She seems to be doing fine with them. Now it appears that their headed to Thundren. Why? No one knows. Best be on your way if you want to catch them."Claudine says.

Junhee hands the witch a few doubloons and says "thank you" before leaving with the others.