Seabound-SKZ

Chapter Eight

Chan had woken up in the morning, freezing cold and soaked from the spray of the waves, it was a mystery to him how he hadn't woken up as he slept, he hadn't slept for that long undisturbed in months, maybe years. He shook his curls of as much water as he could before he stood, shivering slightly as he walked up towards his room, up the stairs towards his balcony and room. He wondered if anyone realized he hadn't been in his room overnight; if anyone had noticed him laying on the dock in the freezing cold. he doubted it, people only noticed when he was gone if he was needed for royal duties or missed his classes when he was younger. He pushed through the doors, breathing a sigh of relief when there was no one inside waiting disapprovingly, he seriously hadn't needed that. 

He got changed quickly, having to literally peel the soaked clothes from him, throwing them all on the edge of his balcony to dry. He jumped at the sound of a knock at his door "Sire?" Jinyoungs voice rang out from the other side "Yes?" He called back, shutting his balcony entrance and heading over to open his bedroom doors, Jinyoung walking through and glancing around his room as if trying to find something or someone. "Jinyoung? what are you doing?" Chan asked, watching as his advisor rummage around his closet next, "Your mother asked me to find the other person who was here two nights ago." Jinyoung said and Chris felt his heart skip a beat "What do you mean other another person?" He leaned against the wall, missing the doorframe the first time and almost falling before regaining his balance. "When I knocked on your door there was definitely at least one other voice in here," Jinyoung watched Chans face for any shift in emotions, Chan, however, had trained himself years ago to not show any emotions on his face while he was being questioned by his mother or Jinyoung. "There was no one else here, I was speaking to myself again," Chris said calmly, unwilling to give away that there were Mers still alive, or that he even had another person inside his room. his advisor frowned at him, wavering on believing him before giving up "If you say so," he patted Chan on the shoulder as he left "I believe you, but you are on thin ice, Sire." he shut the doors behind him and Chan exhaled finally, sliding his back down the wall slowly. 

The day passed at a snail-like pace for Chris, he had gone to help with the planning for the meeting with the governors, which his mother had somehow turned into a full-blown gala, which he hated, and then he had to take fencing lessons, which he also hated. he finally caught a brake around four in the afternoon as he escaped to the lighthouse up on the cliff where the tree had caught on fire in the storm only two days ago, the fire had been contained quickly and put out before further damage could be caused. the lighthouse was currently unoccupied, no one lived there and they only ever used it when they were aware someone was coming so Chan had turned the basement into a hideout with his father before he died, the two had done a lot together, Chan realized as he burrowed under the many covers on a worn-out couch, they had often escaped the palace and their own duties, much to his mother's exasperation. the basement had one tiny window at the top of the wall facing the sea, he hadn't bothered to light the lanterns in the room so all the light was weakly filtering in through that tiny opening. He pulled his notebook out of his bag he had brought with him alongside a pencil to write, he loved writing, mostly music. he had taken piano when he was younger with his mother but they had since given up, not having the time anymore. He curled up, leaning against the arm and beginning to write. the night soon fell and he had to give up writing as his light faded, he mounted his horse once again to return to the palace, riding back home.

The others had let the three Mers go pretty quickly, after making them promise to be careful and be home before midnight, which gave them a solid two hours to go out and back. Felix quickly took the lead, twisting through rocks and plants just so the other two would have a harder time keeping up with him. They got sidetracked a couple of times because of that, Felix spotted a brightly coloured fish and followed it in the wrong direction for a while before the other two noticed and had to drag him away from his 'new friend' and the second time Seungmin had been laughing at something Jisung did and ran directly into a sunken log which resulted in the other two rolling around in the water in fits of laughter, once they had calmed down they finally got back on track, Felix took the lead once again as the palace slowly came into view.

"What if he's not even outside?" Seungmin realized suddenly, causing them to stop "I didn't even think about that..." Jisung put his face in his hands "Oh my...what if someone else is there?" He made eye contact with the other two, "Well...we came this far, may as well just get there and see if he is." Felix finished the conversation fairly quickly before the others could begin to spiral into more stress and his friends nodded slowly, still concerned but now in agreement, they continued swimming towards the palace beach, Seungmin smiled as they saw the familiar figure of Chris alongside his horse glancing at the others, also grinning Felix took the lead, speeding towards the beach, as soon as he reached the dock he pulled himself up waving one hand "Chris!" he called softly, not wanting to attract any attention from anyone else inside the palace, Chan, who had just been about to head upstairs to bed, jumped at the sudden noise, breaking into a smile when he saw who it was. He patted his horse's neck and jogged down the dock to see the Mers "Hello!" He greeted, pulling Seungmin and Jisung up to sit next to the sunset scaled Mer.