𝐃𝐚𝐫𝐤 𝐖𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 (𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞!𝐚𝐮) 𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐙

CH. 41~ Catch up

"BAEKHYUN! CHUNGHA!!" I call out, bursting through the doors of the sickbay. As soon as I walk in, two heads snap towards me, clearly startled at my sudden entrance. The sickbay here is much larger than the Aurora's. It's nice and spacious, lined up with about four cots on each side. I run to the middle, looking wildly at the pair inside of the room, feeling a nostalgic sensation as I gaze upon their familiar faces.

"S-sun-Mi?" Chungha asks, perplexed to see me here. She blinks a couple of times at where I stand, almost as if to convince herself that what she's seeing isn't an illusion. I bite down on my bottom lip, trying my best to contain my excitement but failing when Baekhyun stands up to face me. Without thinking, I throw myself at him, wrapping my hands around his neck. It takes them both a second to register what's happening before they respond.

"I— You— Oh god, it's really you!" Baekhyun hugs me back tightly, laughing at the events; meanwhile, Chungha stands there, looking at me with her mouth agape. I laugh with him as well, feeling my prior anxiousness dissipate as I cling to my dearly-missed orange-haired cousin. When I let go, I don't get a moment to breathe because Chungha is the next to throw herself at me with glassy eyes.

"Oh, I'm so glad you're alive! All of us were so worried when you fled, we thought something happened to you. And then we found Taehyung— Sun-Mi, I'm so sorry," she apologizes, squeezing the air out of me while she tries to hold in her tears. I pull away from her hug and cup her face, making her light blue eyes look into mine.

"Chungha, it's okay. I'm here, I'm fine. You guys risked everything for me that night, there's no reason why you should feel guilty for how things turned out," I console her, wiping off the crystal tears that had started to move down her perfectly smooth, porcelain skin. I hug her comfortingly one more time, running my hand through her blonde hair and I wait for her to settle down.

"Out of all the places, who knew we were gonna meet up here." Baekhyun muses, sitting back down on a cot and staring up at me and Chungha.

"It's odd how life works." I agree with him. "But someone once told me that nothing in life happens as a coincidence. There must be some reason why we've been reunited," I state wisely, remembering what Bina had told me a while ago. Chungha lifts her head to look at me, still keeping an arm around me but moving enough to also face Baekhyun.

"You're right. It's very suspicious to me that you've been reunited with us at the same time that we've been sent to discuss the next law that hag wants to pass." Chungha vocalizes, sniffling a little.

"A new law?" Both of them nod.

"Your mother has gone mad with these laws."

"She's not my mother," I respond to Baekhyun's comment curtly.

"Right, I forgot. Step-mom." We go quiet for a quick second before I ask about this suspicious law.

"What exactly is it that she wants to pass?" Chungha and Baekhyun look at each other, exchanging an uncertain glance as Baekhyun speaks up to talk about it.

"She, uh, she wants to set a new law on magic bearers. She's calling it The Ban."

"Okay but magic has been banned. What's she planning?" They take another moment to think of what they're going to say and this time Chungha says it.

"According to Sehun, he's found a way to steal someone's magic but it can also kill them. There's a chance that if this law passes... we might be looking at a genocide." My heart drops at the news and the atmosphere turns dark. I remember Hongjoong and how he mentioned that he'd lost some of his powers. The only reason that can explain why Sehun didn't kill him was that there were more things he wanted to do to Captain. Eye-patch is lucky to even be standing right now.