pirate king (pirate!au) ➵ ateez ✔️

final promise

The blade comes down.

The second you feel it pierce, you squeeze your eyes shut tightly, unable to see with your own eyes the gentle expression your captain wears as you drive the knife into his neck. Your eyes brun, a silent scream trapped in your throat as your hands tremble around the knife.

You couldn't stop it. Your foolish, kindhearted, loving captain really did decide to die in order to save you. You couldn't overpower the control the sea spirit had over you, and now your captain is-

"Chin Hae."

Your eyes fly open in shock.

Hongjoong is still lying on the ground, propped up against the wall, breaths escaping him in shallow pants. But instead of his neck, you realise that your knife has pierced the bookshelf next to his head, the blade sinking hilt deep into the pages of a book. Blood streams down from a shallow cut at the side of his neck, but his eyes still burn with the same fire as ever.

"You said you were going to die for her?" The sea spirit's words that leave your mouth carry a hint of surprise, and your own shock is reflected in them. But Hongjoong merely ignores her, one hand reaching up to grip your wrist.

His hand is painfully gentle, and his gaze doesn't waver from yours.

"I never said that." Hongjoong's words come out completely steady and resolute. His fingers tighten around your wrist. "If Chin Hae really wanted me to die for her, I would have done it in a heartbeat without any hesitation. But she doesn't want me to."

He lifts his other hand to touch your face, fingertips brushing under your eyes, and it's only then that you realise hot tears are streaming down your cheeks. Hongjoong's eyes soften at the sight of it. "I made you cry again."

"You foolish mortal." The sea spirit speaks through your mouth, and Hongjoong's gaze instantly hardens once more. "I was going to give you a painless death, but it seems as though you've refused my mercy. Now, I can promise you that I will not be as kind as Eorthe is towards humans."

Much to your horror, your hand begins moving of its own accord again, and you raise the blade into the air once more. This time, however, Hongjoong grips your wrist tight, unrelenting even when bruises burn into your skin. Yanking you towards him, your foreheads collide almost painfully, and when you look up, his single green eye burns too close into yours.

"Chin Hae, listen to me." Hongjoong murmurs softly, speaking over the sound of the sea goddess screaming in your mind. "This is something only you can do - the sea spirit chose to possess your body. I won't - no, I can't kill you. So you need to get her to leave your body somehow, in a way that no one else can."

You blink at him in confusion. You, get the sea goddess to leave your body? But your captain is the one with the sea voodoo powers, not you, and-

However, now that you think about it, from the very beginning there had been signs all about you that alluded to who, or what you truly were. From your first meeting with the Kraken to the unearthly strength you had summoned a few days ago, you realise that the sea goddess has been speaking the truth all along.

She is you. You are her. The two of you are one.

Biting on your lower lip, you shut your eyes, calling out to her deep in your mind. She responds instantly to you, rising up from the depths that you've kept her hidden in since the very day you had opened your eyes in that prison cell, blue gaze shifting like the swell of the waves in the middle of the storm. When they meet yours, a shudder runs through you - it's like you're looking in a mirror.

"Why..." You finally ask the one question that has been clinging to your lips for a while now. "Why did you... make me?"

The sea goddess' eyes narrow, and one of her hands reach up to cup your face, brushing the pad of her thumb over your cheek. Under her ministrations, you can almost feel yourself disintegrating, but her fingers are surprisingly cool to the touch, devoid of any human warmth.