Nolite Flere

When You Smile, the Sun Shines

He dressed the wounds as best as he could, trying not to take note of everything that could go wrong. She had already lost so much blood. Her back was whipped raw and was a mess of torn flesh and gold blood. 

Sungjae didn't even know where to start.

He had treated his shipmates, but they'd never been tortured. Or hurt this badly. The worst he'd ever had to do was treat Minhyuk when he got shot in the stomach.

Pushing the negative thoughts aside, he wrapped the gauze tightly around her torso. Yeri was watching quietly off to the side, helping him whenever she could.

It was mostly Sooyoung's tail that was left untouched – the pirates had apparently thought that was worth saving – but she was missing a few chunks of scales. Yeri had promised they would grow back yet Sungjae couldn't help but glance at the few patches that he had slapped bandages over to keep them from oozing blood. He set her broken wrist as best as he could, wrapping the bone tightly.

There wasn't a piece of skin that wasn't bruised or under bandages.

"Will she live?" He asked the younger one.

In a quiet whisper, Yeri answered, "I think so," she rubbed her sister's bandaged hand. "We got to her in time, and besides she's a strong one..." She looked out the window of the medbay. "The sun's rising."

Sungjae peeked up at the view. "It is."

Yeri smiled and reached to brush her fingers through Sooyoung's crimson locks.

"Happy birthday, Sis."

--

The next day when the mermaids showed back up, Seulgi sheepishly announced, "We're actually not allowed back. We kind of broke the rules by revealing ourselves to you guys."

Appalled, Minhyuk's gawked at her, "But you were doing it to save your sister!"

"Well, even before that." She scratched the back of her head. "Oh and Sooyoung is the worst offender, so she can't go back either."

Sungjae raised an eyebrow as he peeled an apple and handed it to Wendy. "But isn't Irene the crown princess?"

Indifferently, Irene shrugged. "I wasn't interested in the crown, anyway. Our cousin will probably take over." She tapped the side of the boat. "We'd like to stay here, on this ship. But only if it's all right with you. We could pay for the fare."

"Oh. Uh. I mean, we'd like that and you don't have to pay, but aren't you endangering yourselves?" The Captain asked.

"I thought of that." Irene chuckled. "And we all discussed about it." She motioned to Wendy and Wendy's face instantly sank. "Come on, you first."

She grumbled but dove into the water then Seulgi and Yeri followed shortly after.

Irene was the last to dive in, and Sungjae watched Minhyuk and Peniel run to the side. He wanted to watch, too, but he kind of had an idea already about what was going to happen. "Drop a dinghy down," he suggested.

Sungjae appeared bewildered, but Eunkwang understood right away and lowered a dinghy. "Holy shit," Peniel muttered, when the 4 pulled themselves back up. "You guys have legs."

Irene laughed, "The sea witch isn't the only one who can turn fins into legs. We'll stay like this for now, and Sooyoung can make her decision when she's awake."

As Sungjae handed the merpeople-now-people clothes, he commented, "...You guys aren't very tall, huh."

--

It turned out the merpeople kept pretty much everything. Their ability to breathe underwater, their golden blood, their jeweled tears, and the ability to talk to marine life – they just lost their fins.