————

————

third person pov

"hey, joongie! are you not going to come in? do i have to invite you?"

the captain continued eyeing the boy in mild shock. the second that their side of the wall had opened, he noticed that it led to a large room. inside said room was a boy sitting at a table, leaning back in his chair while eating a piece of bread.

every inch of the circular table was taken up by plates of food. and yeosang caught himself before he could drool at the sight. he hadn't eaten for a while now.

"what are you doing here?"

"isn't it obvious, san? i'm here to watch you suffer. it's actually really fun, finally having a chance to pay you back."

he finished the bread bun and wiped his hands on the tablecloth before standing up and looking away from something that wasn't in the other boys' line of view.

"well, come in then! you're not really missing that much right now but you will if you continue ogling me from out there."

for a while, no one moved. the boy made no further attempt to get them to come inside. but hongjoong thought of seonghwa at that time.

they weren't doing anything to help him by just standing there. he looked to the left and saw that aera and taehyun had already gone. the hallway in front of them was still shrouded in darkness; they would have to somehow find and turn on the lights themselves.

he turned back to the room in front of him.

"ok."

"captain?"

"we have to find them, yeosang."

hongjoong entered the room first and as soon as the others followed behind him, the wall slid shut, ensuring that they wouldn't be able to go back the way that they came.

their eyes went to where they saw the boy looking to earlier and a small gasp escaped from yeosang's mouth.

the entire wall was covered with screens showcasing different areas of the building that they were trapped in.

jongho's eyes scanned over each monitor. a few of them displayed empty hallways identical in appearance to the ones that they had just gone through. a few of the others displayed different rooms and one of them was completely black.

one screen caught his eye.

"seonghwa..."

the image was grainy and relatively small but the brunette could clearly make out the black haired boy. with his hands behind his back, he was bound tightly to a chair. seonghwa's head had dropped to the side and jongho could make out the outline of the hilt of a dagger sticking out of his chest.

"are you seriously watching us in real-time? what the hell is wrong with you?"

"relax, jongho," he said with a smile on his face. "it's what you deserve anyway." the boy turned to hongjoong. "not only will you regret kicking me out of your crew, but you will also regret not killing me when you had that crossbow aimed right at my head. you really thought that i would just leave? just like that? nah. i want to make sure that you end up with nothing. just like you did with me."

at his words, hongjoong grabbed the younger boy by his collar.

"you. you asked taehoon to destroy my ship. didn't you?? it was his 'reward' for you helping him out. wasn't it???"

"ah. think of it this way, joong. now you can finally live out your fantasy of having a normal house. with your family. no struggles at all. what a life. it's a shame that you have no chance of doing so. first reason being that you have no treasure. and secondly, you're not even going to get out of here. so does it even matter?"

"you absolute prick!"

san took a few steps forward but stopped in his tracks when he heard the sound of a gun cocking. from glaring at the boy, hongjoong's eyes travelled down a little to see that there was a gun aimed right at his stomach.

"oh. this is loaded, by the way. so unless you want me to fire, i suggest you let go of me. because trust me, hongjoong. i will not hesitate."

the red haired boy scoffed before letting go and taking a step back.

"you're as crazy as him, jungwon."

"i mean. you are the one who kicked us out for no reason. but, i guess i do have you to thank for my crew now. they're actually much better than all of you. those are the people that i would do anything for."

hongjoong raised a brow.

"you like them that much, do you?"

"of course."

"niki's dead." the captain didn't hesitate to break the news to his former crew mate.

the grin that was on the blue-black haired boy's face wavered.

"what?"

"when taehoon went to kidnap all of us off of my ship, he decided that he had no need for niki anymore. he said that the boy ruined his plans. so he disposed of him."

hands gripping tightly onto his gun, jungwon frowned.

"no. he didn't. he said that he sent niki back to my ship. he's with the rest of my crew. why would you lie to me, hongjoong? why would you lie about something like that?"

the other captain stepped closer, the barrel of his gun still trained at hongjoong. never moving, jungwon looked at the camera in the room.

"is it true? did you really kill him, taehoon?"

bringing his hands to his blue-black hair, jungwon rapidly tapped his gun against the side of his head.

"no. that's...just no."

"jungwon — " as he spoke, hongjoong took a step forward but was cut off by the younger boy.

gun wavering in his shaking hands, jungwon repositioned it to target the spot between the red haired boy's eyes.

"don't. don't take another step, hongjoong. i will shoot you. i will. so none of you move. ok?! ah!"

he threw his head back as he blinked continuously at the ceiling, evidently in an attempt to not let any tears spill at the information that had just been revealed to him.

"he was the youngest...he was just a child..."

"he tried to kill me."

"i didn't say that he was perfect, yeosang!" jungwon brought his head back down to look at the four crew members. the gun was still pointed at the red haired captain's face. "you know what? i don't believe you. in fact, i want to see for myself. this sicko probably recorded everything to watch later as one of his greatest achievements."

he lowered his weapon for a brief second and took a remote control out of his pocket. directing it at the screens behind them, he pressed a few buttons. four of the screens in the middle stopped displaying any images, instead looking as though they were glitching.

there was the sound of static and a singular image appeared on the four screens which were now acting as one big monitor.

as he looked at it, hongjoong immediately recognised it to be an image of the front half of his ship.

"tell me. where was niki?"

"by the helm, in front of my cabin. but you can't even see that from — "

all the crew members but one, stared dumbfounded as jungwon began fast-forwarding the video and zooming in on a certain section.

he stopped and let out a shaky breath as the screen now displayed a boy collapsed on the deck. the purple shade of his hair made it clear to jungwon that it was in fact niki lying there.

jungwon didn't play the video. he just continuously pressed a button on the remote in his hand as he went through the recording frame by frame.

since jungwon had zoomed into that area, nothing else but the young boy was visible on the screen as his captain kept getting further into the video.

the incessant clicking of the button continued until suddenly, silence.

everyone was raptly gazing at what was being displayed to them. no one even dared to remove their eyes from the screen.

dark grey plumes of smokes consumed the screen, just as they had consumed the ship earlier. and niki was no longer visible. the dark grey transitioned into an orangey hue.

the clicking of the button on the remote became more aggressive but jungwon found there to be nothing, no hope of niki being alive.

much like jungwon, hongjoong's crew also found themselves feeling disheartened. even though they couldn't see it all too well, they had just witnessed their home be destroyed. they were told earlier, and even though some refused to believe it, the visual confirmation was all they needed to know.

a sense of hopelessness crept up inside all of them, most particularly, san.

"you asked taehoon to do this? you had him destroy our ship, our home??"

jungwon remained silent, his eyes still trained on the screen in front of him. jongho carefully watched the younger boy and he noticed his eyes start to gloss over.

"niki..."

"yeah. now look. you're the one who asked for this. and look what happened."

"san."

"what? he asked for our ship to be demolished. but i guess he lost something too."

"san. easy."

hongjoong was well aware of the weapon. the lethal weapon that was in the hand of someone who wasn't mentally stable right now. the gun that was in the hand of someone who had just witnessed one of his crew members die in front of him.

the red haired boy didn't want anyone to set him off. and san was not one to cooperate unless ordered to.

"jungwon. i'm sorry. i really am," the brunette said as he stepped closer to the other boy. "and i think i can deduce what you're thinking. but it wasn't us. we didn't kill him. it was taehoon who did. and trust me, he'll dispose of you too once he no longer has any use for you."

his expression changed, as if he had come to some sort of firm resolve. jungwon lifted the gun, turned the safety off and fired.

-
< meanwhile >

"taehyun?"

"yeah?"

"you haven't found anything yet, have you?"

"no. absolutely nothing."

blindly feeling against the walls for some sort of light switch was clearly futile. we were still stumbling through the dark hallway, using our hands to scan the walls to find anything remotely resembling a switch to bring some visibility into the area.

every few seconds, i would feel taehyun's hand on my forearm. a confirmation that i was still there with him.

"i think - ah!"

"aera! aera, are you ok?"

"yeah. yeah, i'm fine. i just tripped over something."

the 'something' that i had collapsed onto felt very familiar. and it suddenly moved underneath me as a soft groan emitted from it too.

"sh*t. taehyun. don't move. there's someone here."

i pushed myself up off of the ground and effectively off of the random person who was lying in the middle of the hallway for some reason. my hands first went to what i assumed was their legs and then moved up towards their arms.

well, his. it seemed like it was a boy. which means that it could definitely be someone from the crew.

"hey. are you awake?" i tapped the boy's face but only got another soft groan in response. whoever it was, he suddenly leaned his head into my hand and let out a sigh; i felt his breath on my forearm.

"aera..." his voice was very airy, practically a whisper, but i immediately recognised it.

"...soobin?? sh*t. are you ok?"

the fact that i couldn't see anything made me panic. i started to remove my hand from the boy's cheek; wanting to find out what exactly was wrong with him. why was he lying on the ground in the middle of a dark hallway?

but before i could even begin to feel around for some sort of clue, his hand latched onto my wrist.

"wait...please. don't leave me here. just...don't leave me alone."

"i'm not, soobin. i'm right here, ok? i just want to find out what happened to you."

remembering that the boy was limping earlier, i started to move towards his leg, but his grip on my wrist somehow tightened.

"aera...stay with me...please. i don't want to be alone."

the desperation in his voice tugged at something inside me. the way he was acting and how out of breath he seemed, clawed at me. i wanted nothing more than to fix it, but i had no idea what was wrong with him and even if i did find out, there was no light to help me solve it.

the taller boy pulled at my wrist, almost making me tumble forwards from the crouched position that i was in.

"alright. ok. i'm here. i'm not leaving."

i shuffled closer and sat down properly so that i wouldn't lose my balance. soobin's hand stayed wrapped tightly around my wrist but it was slowly loosening and i could clearly hear his breathing becoming shallower.

"soobin? taehyun. quickly find the lights, please. and be careful just over here."

i didn't expect the orange haired boy to agree so quickly, but he did. and as he, i could only hope frantically, searched for some light source, i moved closer to the other boy and brought my free hand up to his face.

"soobin?"

his breath was barely coming out onto the two fingers that i had held under his nose. an almost ugly wheezing sound was emitting from soobin's throat.

"damn it!"

since his grip had loosened, i removed my wrist from his hand and brought my hands up to the collar of his shirt. the top few buttons had already been opened. that much was clear when my hand came into contact with his bare chest.

"ah. sorry."

i immediately retracted my hand. but of course, the wheezing of the second officer never stopped.

"taehyun! are you alright?"

his voice seemed distant when he replied.

"all good! i just can't find a bloody light switch anywhere!"

"alright! this is unfair, ok?? you can't just leave him here in the middle of nowhere and not give us any clue as to what is even wrong with him! we literally already have your other 'incentive'. that's literally so unfair, taehoon!"

there was silence before i heard the sound of a speaker being switched on.

"taehoon?"

i scoffed.

fine.

if he wasn't saying anything just because i wouldn't acknowledge the fact that he's my father, then i would just stay silent too.

but...

soobin...

"ah. jeez. fine. please, just give us a hint...father."

"since you asked so nicely.
an allergic reaction.
that's all."

with that, the static in the hallway went away again and i was left there to ponder over his words.

"allergic reaction?...epipen. taehyun!! the epipen! bring it here, quickly please!"

he sounded like he was running as the boy's footsteps came nearer. it's a wonder he didn't stumble or fall.

"where are you?"

"here. i'm here, taehyun."

i reached my hand out into the darkness and, after a while, i managed to grab taehyun's forearm. he handed me the epipen and i immediately uncapped it.

with my left hand, i felt around in front of me, finding soobin's leg. once i had reached his upper leg, i pressed the pen into the boy's thigh and held it there.

after around ten seconds, i removed the epipen, throwing it to the side. soobin had thankfully stopped gasping. but i could now hear small whines coming from him.

moving back towards his head, i tried to see what else could've been bothering him. for all i know, i could've just injected him with some sort of poison.

but those dark thoughts had to be pushed away for now.

it was still pitch black and i couldn't see anything. so i shuffled even closer to where soobin was lying.

"soobin?"

what sounded like a choked sob escaped from his mouth. and i felt a pang off sadness as i realised that the boy was actually crying.

"are you still in pain anywhere?"

the jet-black haired boy fell to the side, his head landing right on my thigh. his hands grabbed onto the fabric of my shirt just in front of my hip.

"i tried. i tried, aera."

that sentence barely managed to come out of his mouth as he cried softly.

"alright. it's ok. you're fine."

"no...i tried for them. now i don't even know where they are."

the volume of his weeping only became louder until it was literally all i could hear. i couldn't see him but i felt him quivering as his clutch on my clothing stiffened.

"i'll um...i'll try to find a light."

with that, the other boy left me alone with soobin in the dark hallway.

————