Seabound-SKZ

Chapter Three

While Chan did not go swimming he did go down to the private beach in front of the palace to watch the waves and write in his notebook. every so often he heard what sounded like whispering and he kept looking around for the source of it, not seeing the glinting of scales in the water or the heads that occasionally broke the surface. He eventually stood and closed his book "Okay! Whos here? show yourself!" he said in clear annoyance and the Merboys realized that they had not been quiet enough, All six of them, minus Seungmin as he grieved the loss of his Gran, the others would join him later but the first part of the grieving would be completed by family and Seungmin had wanted them to go without him and tell him what happened, ducked back under the waves and the other five stared dead at Felix, it was his idea to come by and see if the prince was okay, and he was being the loudest. "Hello?" Chan now sounded afraid, he then saw bright red glinting in the sun and paused, covering his eyes to see better against the glare, "Shit, Jeongin hide...he can see you!" Changbin tugged the youngest deeper into the water, there was nowhere to hide, the humans had gotten rid of the rocks around here to get rid of the possible danger of grounding a boat on one, Chan walked down the dock that he and his father used to launch a sailboat off of and sat on the edge of it "what are you?!" He called out, was he going crazy? he wondered, talking to something in the water didn't seem like something a sane person would do, little did he know of the argument going on under the waves. "I say we show ourselves to him," Felix said, Jeongin backing him up while the other four hesitated on it "What if he tells everyone else about us though?" Minho asked as the oldest he felt the need to be the voice of reason, Jisung wavered between the two groups before joining Lix "I don't think he would." 

"Hello?!" Chan yelled again, starting to give up, but just as he was starting to stand he saw a head poke through the water, the boy he had seen the day he had almost drowned, the Minho and Changbin attempted to pull Jeongin back under but he resisted and swam towards the dock "What the hell?!" Chan scrambled backwards, he didn't expect anything-anyone to actually respond and he thought Merfolk died out years and years ago, after a war between them and humans, "No wait!" Jeongin reached a hand up at him "I apologise, I did not mean to startle you." Chan slowly leaned over the side of the dock and gasped as the other five Mers surfaced beside the red-scaled boy "Jeongin! why did you do that? now he knows! you know we cannot trust humans!" Changbin hit the younger boy in the shoulder and looked up at the prince with pleading eyes "Please do not hurt us. do not tell the landdwellers we are alive..." he sounded so afraid and small that Chan softened "I won't...obviously, but who are you?" he asked, "And was it you who saved me?" This time Jisung answered, "To answer your first question, we are Mers...obviously, sorry...our names are Minho, Changbin, Hyunjin, Felix, And Jeongin. I'm Jisung and the last of us is Seungmin however he is mourning and will not be joining us." He motioned to each merboy as he spoke their names "And yes, it was us who saved you."

 Chan nodded slowly, processing the new information "Thank you for saving me," He paused briefly "Is everything okay...? you said he was mourning...?" "He will be. his Gran has departed, but that's none of your concern." Minho responded, "And you're welcome." he glanced at the other Mers next to him "We should get back home to mourn with him though." he dipped his head in a small bow of respect at Chan "Thank you for not killing us, I suppose." "You're welcome?" Chan smiled confusedly, some of the Mers hadn't even spoken, however, if they were in grief he understood he hadn't wanted to speak when his father passed either, however when the Mers turned to leave he felt the need to call after them "Wait!" They all paused before swimming away "When will I see you again?" He asked and the boy-Jeongin- he remembered looked back at him "Be here at midnight on the night of the new moon." he said before the Mers disappeared under the waves. 

The Mers arrived back at the gates and entered quickly, swimming as fast as they could so they could find Seungmin and console their friend. They quickly found him in one of the caverns, when the city was built the first Mers had placed a spell on several caverns as well as every house in the city so they were half full of air as communicating telepathically was sometimes difficult to keep up, The poor boy was crying into his hands as he sat on a flat rock that peaked out of the water in place of a chair, no one else was here, Jisung assumed it was because they were saying their own goodbyes or going back to their jobs. They all swam next to the rock Seungmin perched upon and hauled themselves up, taking the boy into their arms and wishing that they had stayed instead of going and watching the prince. Changbin brushed Seungmins hair out of his eyes and wiped his tears away with his thumbs "I'm so sorry, We should have stayed..." he murmured, as Seungmin leaned into his chest with his shoulders shaking, "No..." The crying boys' voice was unsteady "What happened?" He looked back up at the others and the Minho and Felix began to tell the story, Seungmin listening intently "I can't believe you guys revealed yourselves without me..." He sniffled "You should have waited for me..." the other boy's hearts cracked at the sight of him crying "We're sorry..." Hyunjin whispered and they all tackle hugged the boy, Seungmin started crying again, he didn't know why this time, the fact that his best friends had done something that he had so badly wanted to do without him or that his Gran was gone, probably a combination of both. they soon slipped into the water gently, all six of his friends guiding him to Jeongins house so they could talk properly without the fear of someone else swimming in and hearing him, once they reached the apartment Jeongin opened the door and they all moved towards the air pocket in the living area, once they were all there they sat on one of Jeongins large plush cushions to talk.