Aurora's Child - ATEEZ Pirate AU

Chapter I: Open Your Eyes

//TW: Physical abuse and mentions of domestic abuse

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          Everything is dark.

          I can't see anything.

          Are my eyes closed?

          It's like I'm floating.

          Am I breathing?

          Wait.

          I hear something.

          Is that a voice?

          It's- It's a woman.

          She's calling my name but I can barely hear her.

          What is she saying?

          Please, help me.

          "...Hongjoong..."

          That's... that's my name...

          "...Follow the Aurora and find Utopia."

          Suddenly a flash of green eyes and everything turns black again.

          Hongjoong opens his eyes and everything feels hazy. His head feels heavy and his limbs  feel numb. Everything is cold around him. His ears are caught in an eternal ring that keeps him disoriented. A distant flash of light and booming sound help him to slowly regain his senses. He takes a breath and he's met with water. What?

          With a violent cough he comes back to himself and he finally realizes.

          He's in a storm right in the middle of the ocean.

          He tries to kick his arms and legs but his body feels heavy. The waves just keep dragging his body under with assertive aggression that keeps threatening to drown him. He opens his mouth to breathe but is met with the salty waters of the ocean. He can only hear the thunder, the heavy downpour and his own heartbeat. He keeps trying to stay afloat but it's no use. The ocean wants to drag him all the way down.

          He can't put up a fight anymore. With a final prayer to Calypso, he closes his eyes and lets his body be consumed by the dark void of the ocean. Every sound on the surface is now being drowned by the white noise surrounding him. That's his final memory as he loses consciousness one last time.

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          Sunlight.

          Hongjoong opens his eyes and is met by sunlight. He's lying on his bed staring at the ceiling. Sweat seems to cover every surface of his skin and he realizes he's also panting. He sits up on his bed and looks towards the light seeping in through his open window; the smell of the sea also drifting in with the light breeze. With a shaky hand, he wipes his damp brow and blows out an equally shaky breath. It's the same nightmare every time.

          In those dreams he can replay the night he reached the dock of an island while unconscious. During that moment, he could only remember being on a sailboat, the storm that knocked him out --and off the boat--, his first name and the woman with green eyes. Anything before or beyond that was completely wiped out of his memory.

          He was rescued by a couple of fishermen that thought they found a washed-up corpse. He could barely remember being taken to a clinic to care for his head injury. The nurse that worked there was a kind woman that later adopted him, saving him from the streets. The nurse was wife to a scumbag named Commander Song; parents of Song Mingi, his best friend.