Seabound-SKZ

Chapter Eleven

Chan had been going down to the docks every night since the three Mers had visited, this was the third night and he worried they wouldn't come again. He knew that one of them, Seungmin, had just lost his grandmother, but...they had promised to come again, would they keep their word to come on the new moon? He glanced up in the sky, the moon a tiny sliver in the navy blue,  it was gone completely the next night, he knew, he had studied stars and the night sky growing up, as he had wanted to become a navigator on his father's ship when he grew up; of course, that ship had sunk in the storm that had killed his father so that dream was dead now. He stood, realizing the Mers weren't coming tonight, starting his walk up towards the palace, then, hesitated, did he really want to go back to his room tonight and have to go to breakfast with his mother? they only ever sat in silence while they ate anyway, would she really miss him for one morning? he turned his path from the palace, deciding that they could live without him for one day. He wandered into the village, a couple of teenagers, who couldn't be much younger than him almost fell over as they recognized the crown prince, the lights by the pier were all lit, the flickering lights dancing over the boardwalk. He kept walking, not paying much mind to where he was until he reached the edge of the forest on the outskirts of the main village in their kingdom, he hadn't realized how far he had walked. the sun was rising, he noticed, the sky a brilliant red, reminding him of the youngest Mers-Jeongins-scales. He heard the church bells ringing and he counted seven dings of the bell, he had been walking for nearly ten hours, no wonder his feet ached. it would probably be another ten to get home, he groaned softly, this was a bad idea, his mother was going to kill him. 

He started his trudge back home, stopping in the village to get a freshly baked sweet roll from a bakery, the baker nearly fainting at the sight of his prince with his hair messy and wearing civilian clothes, Chan had smiled softly at the poor woman, handing over way too many gold coins for the single roll he had bought, making her thank him over and over while curtseying deeply. he took a bite out of it, eyes fluttering slightly at the taste, he might have to make regular trips to this baker, she was probably the best in the kingdom and he wondered how no one spoke about her shop. he took a break by the very edge of the pier after an hour and a bit of walking, watching the children run up and down it as their parents set up boats for fishing or preparing to leave for long voyages to other kingdoms with goods to sell, the few royal ships, loaded with the privates getting the sails prepped. 

A small girl ran up to him, eyes wide and glittering "Are you the prince?" her voice came out so quiet, as if in awe of Chan, who froze and nodded slowly "yes...but you gotta be quiet, I don't want my mother to know I came here, okay?" He said "A secret? she doesn't know where I am right now..." the little girl nodded excitedly "Okay! I can keep a secret!!" she smiled up at him, Chan softening at the sight of her gap-toothed smile, "But you should tell your momma were you go," The girl patted his knee "She's probably worried you aren't home," she perked up at her father calling her "I gotta go!! bye-bye, mr.prince!" she giggled as she ran towards her dad, Chan watching sadly as the older man picked her up and spun in a circle, the little girl shrieking with glee as her mother watched worriedly as the dad threw her around. Chan wiped his eyes quickly, realizing suddenly he was crying. He wished his family was still like that, like when his father was alive. He doubted his mother was worried as the little girl had said, but he still figured he would keep walking slowly home. there had been no soldiers on horses looking for him yet, therefore he assumed no one had gone to try to wake him up yet, it was still early so he thought he had maybe an hour before they saw him gone. 

He kept walking for a while, finally, he heard the alarm bells that signaled his mother knew he was gone and mentally prepared for the lecture he would get. A soldier finally spotted him, and he was dragged back to the palace on a horse. The disappointed look his mother and Jinyoung gave him hurt more than a lecture would, even more so as they just left, brushing around him, Jinyoung patting his shoulder gently, his mother just saying "You are excused from your duties for today." she said tightly, Chan felt more tears coming on, he would have preferred that they had yelled at him, but they knew that the silent treatment worked better on Chris. He trudged up to his room to brush out his hair, he could feel how tangled it was and he wanted to clean up his appearance even just a tiny bit before he got in trouble with the palace staff. 

He fought off tears the rest of the day, wandering the palace aimlessly. he ran into his mother once, where she hugged him, apologizing for not speaking to him that morning "I was scared you left," She had said as she crushed her son in a death grip "I didn't want to talk in front of the staff, but I'm not mad at you, okay?" she stroked his hair softly and Chan had accepted her apology, knowing she still had his best interest at heart. They had parted way again after that so his mother could continue her duties and Chris continued his aimless walk about the palace. eventually, his feet took him down to the royal beach where he walked down the dock and climbed into the old sailboat still docked there, the one he had practiced sailing in when he was younger, he sat there for a moment, then the tears he had been holding in all day finally fell, the rocking of the boat and setting sun, combined with the exhaustion from walking all night, slowly put him to sleep, tears still slipping from under his eyelids, tear tracks evident on his cheeks, and the seven Mers, holding true to their promise popped out of the water one at a time as the sun finally disappeared over the horizon line. Jisung was the first to see the prince in the boat, as well as notice the tears on his cheeks, and beckoned the others closer to pull themselves into the boat was a task, tails flopping uselessly as they pulled each other up, then Minho softly wiped Chan's cheeks, causing the prince to stir awake, eyes blinking open to see the concerned faces of the Mers, "Are you okay?" Changbin was the first to ask and Chan shrugged "I dunno," his voice still raspy and slurred from his sleep, hands reaching to rub at his eyes "Just...lonely?" he said it like a question, but it was true, the little girl made him realize how lonely, and upset from scaring his mother he was, Jeongin took his hand slowly "We're here now..." he trailed off and Felix finished for him "Talk to us." The ex-reef dwellers both looked at Chan, who felt himself melting into Changbin, who he realized had sat next to him and slipped an arm around him. "I just..." Chan hesitated, not used to being open about his emotions, and the seven pairs of eyes on him made him nervous "I-i don't have any friends, the only people I know are the people who live in the palace," Seungmin placed a hand on his leg from his place on the floor, making Chan blush slightly, which didn't go unnoticed by the Mers, "And-and my f-father died in a storm a couple of years ago a-and I've just been miss-missing him so much more recently..." He felt more tears slip down his face and Hyunjin wiped them away with his thumbs, Seungmin nodding along with Chan's explanation "We're all here for you now, we're friends now, okay?" Seungmin said reassuringly, not able to resist giving the prince a small kiss on the cheek after, and the other Mers all watched jealously as the prince blushed and hid his face in Bins' chest.