The journey into Tilina was uneventful.

They safely made it to the Ghost Queen's private harbour just as the sun began to peek over the horizon, and there was no sign of the old man and his pesky little soldiers roaming around. The city of Kansadia was still sleeping, unaware that a ghost, a mere name whispered into the wind, had slipped a whole boatful of trespassers into their world of isolation.

"You might want to get rid of your spells," the Ghost Queen had said to Yeosang once they'd made it to land, and the situation had been explained. "It's pretty obvious what you are, from them. And even I wouldn't be able to help you if the authorities found out. Don't worry though," she said, baring her teeth in a smile. "Tide's going out in a few hours, so your beloved ship won't sink, at least."

And as the water receded, the Ghost Queen called in some of her 'subordinates', as she liked to call them, and blocked off the area around the ATINY with giant concrete blocks. Using various species' abilities, they sealed up the block completely so that when the tide eventually returned, water would not get in. Promptly afterwards, workers made their way down, and began to work on repairs.

"So you said there were twenty-five of you, correct?" the Ghost Queen asked. "You've gotta be accurate with your numbers. I don't want to waste space or money catering for non-existent people."

"Yes," Hongjoong said through gritted teeth, having been asked this for what felt like the hundredth time.

"Good, I just wanted to double-check," she shrugged. "I'll prepare some rooms in my base for you. Have your stuff ready by tonight."

"Err, thanks, I guess," Hongjoong said.

The Ghost Queen shrugged and smirked.

"It's common sense for a good investor to treat their clients well, isn't it?" she said. "I'm only laying down basic foundations — I do like to call myself a good investor, after all. Anyway, I'll come pick you up tonight. Have fun settling into the wondrous city of Kansadia, where poverty is abundant, and you'll always find some witch hanging in the gallows!" she said, spreading her arms wide as if this was something to be proud of, but her eyes were empty, mocking; she knew how much of a ruin her country was – and she revelled in it.

With another one of those cocky grins, she turned and left, humming a little shapeless tune as she went. With a jolt, a small realisation crept up on Hongjoong. Music still existed. In other countries, dance and expression was still allowed; he, and everyone else from Signeria, had been just been living without it for too long.

"I really don't get her deal," Wooyoung grumbled from beside Hongjoong.

Seonghwa sighed.

"She's always been like that," the ex-assassin said. "As far as I've known her, anyway."

"Did you talk to her often, hyung?"

"Big Grey used to force me to," Seonghwa replied. "He'd gather all that were close to him – which tended to always end up being just me and Dongju, and her – and we'd have 'a cup of tea and chat'." He sighed and shook his head. "It always ended up with the other three getting into a heated debate on the best way to rake in money; I never took part in the conversations. I was never much of a talker – especially back then."

"Mm," Wooyoung nodded. "I can see that happening."

Seonghwa chuckled.

"Well then, let's tell the others to pack their stuff," Hongjoong said.

"Sounds good, hyung," Wooyoung said. "I should really start packing now, I've got a lotta stuff to get ready."

"Of course you do," came a familiar, lilting tone, one that wasn't laced with fatigue for once. Yeosang, coppery-brown hair swept to one side, approached, his usual slight smirk decorating his face. Now that he'd had plenty of rest (by sleeping all morning as the fairies and elves sealed up the 'box' around the ATINY), he looked so much more energised and refreshed than he had in days. And he seemed to be in a better mood, too. "You carry way too much junk around with you."

"Says you," Wooyoung sniffed, scowling and crossing his arms, "Mister Potion Man."

Yeosang rolled his eyes.

"Those potions are actually useful," the witch said. "Those random rocks you find out of nowhere, however, are not."

"Hey, come on, they're really pretty – San really likes the ones I gave to him. Same with Yunho and Mingi as well. Why're you the only one with a problem? What have you even done with the ones I've given you anyway?"

Yeosang shrugged, acting nonchalant, but he didn't tell his friend about the special little box he'd been storing them in, tucked away in a safe little corner of his room.

* * *

San had already packed all of his stuff, and instead of taking up his usual perch atop the crow's nest (which had been obliterated by the kraken), he was sitting in a corner of the deck, scratching away in his aura notebook, as he often did. He winced as he bent over to reach for his pen lid that had rolled away, and gently felt at his ribs, feeling the tightness of his bandages. It had been a couple of days, but they still hurt like hell.

Today he was watching with mild interest the half-werewolf, half-holin boy he was pretty sure was called Soni. His aura was a vivid pink, meaning he was in love, and after about a minute of observation it was quite obvious who he was crushing on.

He glanced up for a second, and Soni was in happy conversation with Vi and Miyeon, even ruffling Yua's hair affectionately. When the demon looked up again, after scribbling down a little note, the grey-haired individual was standing right in front of him. San got up.

"Hey," Soni said, laughing awkwardly and scratching the back of his neck. "You're the guy who sees auras, right? Choi San."

San nodded.

"Mhm," he said, sitting back down. He patted the space beside him, inviting the boy to sit down. He could tell this conversation was going to end up being long. "Have you come to me for relationship advice? 'Cause I have none."

"Oh, so you can see things like that," Soni said in relief as he crossed his legs and took his place beside the demon.

"So?" San asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well no, it's not that. I mean, it kind of is? Uhm, well, there's this person I like..."

"Mhm?" San said, nodding encouragingly.

"Well...do you know who they are?"

"Of course – it's pretty obvious," San said knowingly. "You go pink everytime you look at him."

Soni's hands went to his cheeks self-consciously.

"No, not like that," San said, smiling. "Your aura," he said, pointing to Soni's chest, which had gone a light orange with embarrassment.

"Ahh," Soni said. "Then...I was wondering if you could tell me if—how Seungho...feels about me? His opinion or something, I dunno. However much you can see."

"Hmm," San said, looking over at the individual in question thoughtfully. He knew who Seungho was; a part-elf, part-brute with a great mane of fiery-red hair, yet a quiet sort of serenity about him, which was reflected in his deep ocean-blue eyes, and the way he'd stare out at the sea, with silent intensity, lost in his thoughts. He was rather introverted, and kept to himself, but maintained a good friendship with various members of the crew. Perhaps it was because of the elf blood running through his veins, but by the gods, he was jaw-droppingly beautiful. With a sharp jawline that could cut through stone, yet soft, rounded eyes and plump lips, it was no wonder Soni was absolutely smitten with this man; from his looks alone, he was perfect.

But despite his beauty, despite the startlingly high-standards elves often held in their partners, he'd always glance over at Soni for fleeting seconds, even in the middle of a conversation with another. And every single time, his inner aura would flutter a flustered pink. San smirked, having figured things out.

"So?" Soni asked excitedly. "What do you see?"

San grinned, a mischievous, cheeky grin, and turned to the boy, who was practically buzzing with anticipation.

He put a finger to his lips.

"I'm not telling you," he smiled slyly. Soni drooped in disappointment. "If Fate wants you to become a happy couple, I want it to happen naturally." The demon shrugged. "Just go over there and talk to him – he's a nice guy, and I'm sure you guys'll warm up to each other quickly."

"But I'm really shitty at socialising," Soni whined.

"It'll be fine," San coaxed, patting the half-werewolf on the back encouragingly.

"And besides," Soni said, his shoulders slumping further and ignoring the demon's comfort, "I'm a half-werewolf, and Seungho hangs around with Saren – no doubt he's said a whole load of shit about me."

San frowned, remembering the prejudiced words the ginger had said about demons. Unnatural. Never meant to be.

San shook his head.

"It'll be fine," he said. "I've talked with Seungho-hyung plenty of times and he seems okay with me. And us demons are the most hated out of the Dark Creatures, aren't we? You'll be fine – just have confidence!" San said earnestly, his nose scrunching as he smiled encouragingly at the older werewolf.

Soni grimaced.

"I'm blaming you if this all goes wrong," he said, pulling himself to his feet, and headed over to the staggeringly ethereal half-elf.

San smiled in satisfaction, and went back to humming softly under his breath and writing away in his notebook. What a cute couple; he hoped they'd realise their feelings for each other soon enough. He'd be there to cheer them on until then.

* * *

Less than an hour later, the Ghost Queen returned, and all twenty-five members of the crew were packed and ready to move into what could well end up being their home for months – depending on how efficient the Ghost Queen's 'friends' were at their job.

"You'll have to move in smaller groups," was the first thing the half-holin said as she approached the assembled group. "Too suspicious if an entire mob of twenty-five bedraggled pirates go parading down the streets, eh?"

"True," Hongjoong said, and Wooyoung nodded, though he hated to admit that the infuriating half-yuzeul was right.

"So who's going first?" she asked, hands on hips.

"Send the others first," Hongjoong said. "Me and the rest of ATEEZ'll go last."

"If you say so," the Ghost Queen shrugged, and beckoned to a small group of the pirates near to the front. "Come on, kiddos," she said, though half the people in the group looked to be significantly older than her, and she headed off, her footsteps as light as a cat slinking after its prey.

It didn't take that long for her to escort the seventeen-odd members of the rest of the crew, and soon enough, she was standing right in front of ATEEZ again, smiling that arrogant grin that suggested she was the queen of the castle, and nobody else could take the crown from her.

"Ready then?"

"Of course," Wooyoung said, turning up his nose at the older half-holin.

"Where are you taking us?" Yeosang asked.

"Well you to a salon, first off," the Ghost Queen said, inspecting a nail. "I doubt that Old Man Jeremy wouldn't have spotted you when he decided to make a little trip down to your ship, and no doubt once he sees the boat in my harbour he'll be all over the place telling everyone there's a witch in our midst." She shrugged. "And you know what'll happen to you once you're found out."

Yeosang swallowed, a slight sheen of sweat starting to bead on his forehead. The Ghost Queen then suddenly laughed.

"Don't look so grim, you're under my protection!" she barked, pointing at him with a mocking finger. "And second of all, you're one of my clients – wouldn't let you get hurt for the world! After all, I'm pretty sure your captain won't pay me what it was worth to smuggle you guys in here if you were to get hurt, so," she shrugged.

"That, I think we agree on," Hongjoong said coldly, and patted Yeosang reassuringly on the back.

"It's not like I was scared anyway," Yeosang huffed. "I just don't want Wooyoung to mourn me too much if I died."

The Ghost Queen gave what seemed to be a knowing smirk – though it was extremely hard to tell the difference between her different ones if one didn't know her that well – and turned on her heel.

"Well if you're coming, you better hurry up," she said. "I don't wait for stragglers."

And so they headed off the safety of the ship and into the maze of the city jungle.

"So what is your base like?" Hongjoong asked as they travelled through multitudes of twisting and turning streets.

"This is my base, sweetheart," she replied confidently as she strode through a thin alleyway, in which all the members had to sidle through, one by one.

"What do you mean?"

"This part of the city is mine. Anyone I don't want here, I can simply be rid of."

"So then where are you taking us?"

"A hotel near to my main base of operations – I might even give you a tour around that if I'm in the mood."

Not too long later, they arrived in front of a tall hotel building. It towered over them, gleaming with a manufactured welcoming. Hongjoong shivered.

"Woah, isn't this that five-star hotel branch that's really famous abroad?" Yeosang gaped as he craned his neck to look at the logo emblazoned across the building.

"Yep," the Ghost Queen said proudly, nodding. "And you get to stay in it, free of charge. Courtesy of being my clients – you get all sorts of privileges."

She grinned elusively, and gestured to the automatic doors waiting smugly for the pirates to enter through them. She strutted off towards them, and ATEEZ scrambled to follow at her sudden movement.

"Last of the group I told you about, I believe?" the Ghost Queen said, leaning on the counter casually as the receptionist checked the system on her sleek black laptop.

"Yes," she replied in a foreign accent. Her voice was smooth, robotic even. She'd been on the job for a number of years, it seemed. "Under se name of 'Queen, Ghost', correct?"

"That's me," she grinned, and graciously took the key-cards from the receptionist with a little polite bow of her head. "Now then," she said, turning to the group, "there's a limited number of rooms I could get you – I don't want to be investing too much money in you guys – so I've organised you into groups. Rest of the crew's already moved into their rooms in those."

She whipped out a piece of paper.

"Your friend, little Mingi, was kind enough as to provide me with a little 'map', of sorts, of all the different relationships of the members of the crew. And their names, of course. And I thank you for that," she said, winking at Mingi, and the fairy blushed sheepishly with a little smile painting his lips. Yunho grinned at him, and gave him a thumbs up. Mingi went redder. "So I've organised you into groups of four, mostly three, some twos. First off, we have the captain and the first mate, you guys are sharing Room 334; the witch, the holin and the demon are sharing Room 335; and the three that are left – little Mingi, the shapeshifter and the demigod – are sharing Room 333."

"Sounds good," Hongjoong said.

"Lifts are over next to the restaurant, have fun settling in," she said. "And be outside the hotel within the half-hour. I want to show you my base of operations – since that's where you'll be finding me if you need any help." She paused. "Not that you'll need it, right? Since you're all a group of very strong, very capable pirates, aren't you?"

"Yes," Wooyoung growled. "We are."

And he headed over to the lifts with his heavy bag of belongings without another word.

"Kids these days," the Ghost Queen said, rolling her eyes. "Am I right?"

None of ATEEZ responded.

"You guys are boring," the Ghost Queen decided, and sauntered off.

* * *

"I wonder what colour I should dye my hair," Yeosang wondered aloud as he settled on the bed he was sharing with Wooyoung.

"You seem excited about it," San commented as he placed Shiber carefully under the covers of his bed.

"Eh," the witch shrugged. "I never really liked my hair colour anyway. I'm actually looking forward to dyeing it – speaking of which, what do you guys think would suit me? Dark brown? Black? Or should I go for something drastically different? Like blonde, maybe neon yellow? Or even neon pink. I think I could pull that off," the copper-haired witch said confidently.

"Neon pink?" Wooyoung scoffed. He'd been silently sulking over the Ghost Queen for the past five minutes as they'd settled, but he seemed to be recovering quite well. "Pfft, you'd look like that one squirrel we adopted for a while that one time. You know, the really old, ugly one."

"Says you," Yeosang said haughtily. "You'd look like a pink highlighter that exploded all over the place."

"I think you should go for blonde," San said as he reached over into his bag and chucked some of his clothes over his back onto the bed. "I think it'd suit you."

"Hmm, I think I agree," Yeosang said.

"I don't," Wooyoung said, sticking his tongue out at his two peers. Yeosang rolled his eyes, whilst San laughed.

The three finished unpacking their belongings not long afterwards, and settled on the smooth and spotless hotel beds. Yeosang checked his watch.

"We've still got quite a bit before the Ghost Queen wants to see us," he said. "Guess we can relax for a bit, then."

San nodded.

"It's so weird to be back on land again," the demon said as he leaned back on his hands. "We've been out at sea for so long."

"Yeah, it is weird," Yeosang agreed. "It seems like only a week ago me, you and Wooyoung were running our restaurant like usual."

"Gods, that was ages ago, wasn't it?" Wooyoung said. "Cuz we closed it up not long after we met Hongjoongie-hyung and Seonghwa-hyung and Jongho."

"Yeah, it was," San said. "So much happened since then."

"Yeah," the holin said, a grin edging its way onto his face. "We fought a kraken – a godsdamn fucking kraken – and survived."

"Not only that, we almost beat it," Yeosang pointed out.

"If it weren't for Hongjoongie-hyung showing it mercy, it'd probably be at the bottom of the ocean by now."

"Or in our stomachs," Wooyoung said thoughtfully. "I could've made a great grilled kraken salad out of it."

"You can't deny our Wooyo's cooking ability," Yeosang said, grinning over at his friend. "Too bad we never got to taste that."

"It is a shame," San agreed.

"Ugh," Wooyoung said. "Now I'm hungry."

"Same."

"Me too."

"We should totally get something to eat after the Ghost Queen or whatever her name is shows us around."

"And after I dye my hair," Yeosang pointed out. "Though that might take a while."

"Eh," San shrugged. "We could just buy some snacks on the way."

"Sounds like a plan," Yeosang smiled.

"Does anyone wanna play a round of Super Splashy Racing Karts before we go?" San said, grabbing the gaming console from Wooyoung's bag.

"Of course," Wooyoung said.

"I bet you my honour as a witch I'll beat both of you like it's nothing," Yeosang grinned.

"You really wanna bet?" San said with a smirk, and handed over the controllers to his friends.

* * *

Half an hour later, Seonghwa and Hongjoong were standing outside the hotel building, the Ghost Queen standing with them, waiting for the rest of the crew to arrive. The latter was tapping her foot impatiently against the pavement, checking a