Archive of Our Own ^beta

It was so loud.

The waves were crashing against the ship, the storm was howling around them, rain and seawater hammering down and the Captain was trying to yell commands through it all.

Yunho just wanted to stab something with his sword. The Captain kept offering him a rifle, any rifle -- “you can have Seonghwa’s, if you like!” “No, no, he cannot!” -- and Yunho kept turning him down. The ship was always chaotic when the weapons came out, and at least with a sword, Yunho could be reasonably certain he wouldn’t hit one of his own by accident.

A scream pitched to ring through the noise made him pause and look towards the bow where Jongho was stationed.

And then everything got even louder as one of the kraken’s tentacles smashed through the hull.

*

It was quiet.

It was too quiet. It was making Juyeon antsy.

“I agree,” Sangyeon said. He frowned at the trees surrounding them. “It’s worrying.”

Behind him Eric ran past, screaming, Hyunjae in hot pursuit. Hyunjae was wielding an arrow menacingly and shouting about vengeance.

“I guess it’s not completely quiet.”

Sangyeon blinked at him. “What do you mean?”

“I-- They just-- You know what, never mind. It’s the birds,” Juyeon said. “There should be some, kicking up a racket, and there aren’t.”

*

The blood was making the deck slippery.

The dead and the injured were being washed overboard every time the kraken shook the ship.

Yunho cut the ropes.

*

Hyunjae was forced to give up on his vengeance when Sangyeon sent Eric and Changmin ahead as scouts to find out what was happening closer to the shoreline. Chanhee had vanished into the circle to see if the gods had any enlightenment to offer.

“It could just be the storm coming,” Juyeon said. He didn’t look like he believed his own words.

*

Wooyoung had stopped screaming. Every time the sirens attacked, they went straight for him, and he knew it, they all knew it, and he still wouldn’t stay out of the fight.

Yunho couldn’t think about it. There was no time for him to think, he just had to act.

*

Hyunjae was following Jacob into the dark, trying to follow the trail Eric had left for them.

*

The ship was turning. San was shouting something, and Seonghwa spun around, face white. “He says it’s pulling us towards land.”

Yunho looked up automatically. All he could see were dark clouds and rain. San was barely visible in the distance. “Towards land? Why?”

“I don’t know! But I don’t think it’s good!”

*

“There’s a fucking blood moon tonight.” Chanhee came walking out of the stone circle, Sunwoo and Younghoon fanning out behind him.

“Okay,” Sangyeon said. “What does that mean?”

“Weird shit,” Kevin offered.

Sangyeon sighed deeply. He looked like he wanted to go home and forget he ever joined the Stormborn. He looked like that a lot. “Elaborate, please.”

“Unfortunately, Kevin is right. It’s going to get weird and probably nightmare-ish. Prepare for anything at all.”

*

They all stood on deck silently watching through lightning flashes as the myriad of tentacles slowly, painstakingly, merged into one long gigantic snake and slithered onto the shore. It reflected the light from the blood red moon like a horrifyingly alive prism.

“What,” Jongho said after a long moment. “The fuck was that.”

“I have no idea,” Yunho admitted. He straightened after retrieving his sword. “But I’m going to go kill it.” He climbed over the railing and dived into the sea before anyone could stop him.

*

There was a man -- no, Hyunjae corrected himself -- there was a gorgeous man, soaking wet, walking out of the stormy sea, holding a sword aloft. Hyunjae had heard about these kinds of things.

“Hey!” he called out. “Are you a god of the sea? Or some kind of demon?”

The man halted, looking around until he spotted Hyunjae over by the treeline. “Am I a what?”

“A god,” Hyunjae said patiently. “Or a demon. Honestly, right now, I’d take either if you know how to fight.”

“Look, I’m just here to kill that fucking kraken, I’m not here to fight any --”

“Kraken?” Hyunjae was confused. “Aren’t kraken normally found in the sea?”

“Yeah, but apparently this one turns into a snake sometimes, and yes, I know how this sounds, but I swear it’s what happened.”

Hyunjae brightened. “A giant sparkly snake just ate my friend and vanished that way. That’s probably the kraken! Come on, you can help me kill it.”

“I’m sorry,” the man said awkwardly, once he’d gotten closer.

“For what?”

“Your..friend? Being eaten?”

“Oh that. We’re just going to have to kill it, and bring him back,” Hyunjae said matter of factly. “It’ll be fine. Now come on!”

*

Yunho ran after the man who introduced himself as Hyunjae of the Stormborn. He wasn’t sure he trusted Hyunjae, but he also didn’t have any better ideas at the moment. Anyway, as long as he got to kill the kraken, it didn’t matter. Yunho had been angry ever since Mingi had been injured and forced ashore, and the fury had been building for every month it took for him to heal.

The kraken was a target he could focus on to keep his anger from spilling out. By now his anger was as cold and sharp as the steel of his blade.

They met up with a man further up the hill. He was standing in a circle of dead men, which was not how Yunho preferred to meet new people, but at the moment he didn’t care.

“Jacob!” Hyunjae called out.

“Hyunjae!” Jacob let out a sigh of relief. “I was wondering where you went off to.”

“I found someone to help us. This is Yunho, he’s from the sea and he’s hunting the were-kraken-snake-thing.” Hyunjae gestured towards Yunho, who felt he had to correct him.

“I’m from the pirate ship Illusion, not the sea.”

Hyunjae waved dismissively. “Same thing.”

“It’s really not.”

“Okay, it’s unimportant at this exact moment in time, how’s that?”

“Acceptable.”

*

The snake spat Sunwoo out in front of them and slithered off with a flick of a tail that felled several surrounding trees.

Sunwoo sat up, looking around in confusion, and then he was crying out in alarm as Yunho kicked him back to the ground and would have run him through with his sword if Hyunjae hadn’t leapt at him, clinging to his arm to stay the blow.

“No! What are you doing! This is my friend!”

“That is not a human,” Yunho said frostily, glaring down at Sunwoo. He didn’t move his sword from Sunwoo’s throat. “That’s a monster. No wonder you said he’d survive being eaten. Of course he would. Of course a siren would survive, they’re kin.”

“Sunwoo is as human as I am,” Hyunjae protested.

Yunho turned his head to meet Hyunjae’s eyes. “Then maybe I should be killing you too.”

*

Hyunjae expected him to let one of the creatures who kept trying to take Wooyoung away from them live? Now? On this night when he wasn’t even sure Wooyoung was still alive?

“Maybe you should,” Hyunjae said. “But then who’d help you kill the snake?”

“Kraken,” Yunho corrected.

“Whatever. The big monster eating everything. You think you can hunt that thing down on your own?”

Yunho hesitated. And then he lowered his sword and stepped away.

He did need help.

*

They found the snake monster with the rest of the Stormborn, and were immediately pulled into the planning for the attack.

“I can’t turn it back,” Chanhee said urgently. He was shimmering in the dark. “But I’m not sure we want it to. I think I can keep it from turning. If we can keep it in this shape, maybe we can kill it.”

Haknyeon and Changmin exchanged looks. “You can use us,” Changmin said. “If you have to.”

“And me!” Eric called out, joining them. “Eric,” Hyunjae protested and was ignored.

“Take whatever you need,” Sunwoo added.

*

They had fought the beast to a stand still, but they had nothing more to give.

A single shot rang through the air. It should not have been enough, but Yunho knew that sound. He knew that rifle. He spun around, searching, until he found Seonghwa. Seonghwa was walking towards them, rifle at the ready, face expressionless.

Jongho and San flanked him, looking grimly determined.

“They’re friends!” Yunho called out, quickly. He wasn’t entirely sure about that, but he did know he wasn’t interested in being part of a slaughter. WIth how exhausted the Stormborn were, that’s what it would be.

Seonghwa paused, holding up a hand to get the other two to pause as well. “They’re monsters.”

“Not… all of them.”

“Actually,” Hyunjae said, popping up next to Yunho. “Probably, yes. We all are. Depending on how you look at it, of course.”

Sunwoo looked up suddenly from where he’d been kneeling next to the mage. He was staring in the direction Seonghwa and the others had come from. “You’re monsters too?”

Yunho gave him a baffled look. “No.”

In the distance he could see Hongjoong, Yeosang and Wooyoung approaching.

“I can recognize my own kind,” Sunwoo said. “One of your people is definitely a siren.”

“No,” Yunho denied.

Seonghwa shook his head a little. “Wait,” he said. He signed something quickly to San, who looked mulish, but lowered the rifle he’d reflexively raised. “The captain will decide.”

*

“I could be wrong,” Juyeon said slowly. “But I think the leaders have dragon blood.”

“One of the redheads is a cat of some kind,” Eric supplied. “Can’t tell which one.”

“And the siren.” Sangyeon turned to Sunwoo. “You’re sure?”

“Oh trust me. It’s taking all my self control to not go over there and bite him, he’s calling me so loudly.” Sunwoo winced. “I bet he’s a royal bastard of some kind. They’re the only ones who are this bloodthirsty when it comes to their -- our -- own kind.”

Hyunjae had been listening while keeping an eye on Yunho’s people, who’d crowded around the remains of the snake-kraken and seemed to be trying to decide whether to kill them or not just to be on the safe side. Now he saw two of them exchange some hand signals, and then a redhead loped towards them, lips turned up in a friendly smile. “Uhoh. Cat incoming, I think.”

*

“It’s safest to just kill them all,” Hongjoong said apologetically once San was gone. “And right now is the moment to do it.”

“No,” Yeosang said decisively. “I don’t care how much safer that makes us, makes you, we’re not doing it.”

“Yeosang…”

Yunho left them to their argument. He’d known as soon as the captain started listening to the arguments that there wouldn’t be further killing tonight. He sank down next to Wooyoung who was sitting with his head in his hands. “How’re you doing?”

“With the injuries or the news that apparently I'm a demon spawn?”

“Both I guess?”

“As well as could be expected. All my freaking out is internal because my leg is injured so I can’t actually run around screaming, which is what I really feel like doing,” Wooyoung said.

Yunho gave him a gentle pat on the head.

Wooyoung snorted. “That’s San’s thing, but thank you.”

*

“So to sum up,” the captain said, after the cat had dragged him over, and he’d listened to their explanations. He closed his eyes briefly before opening them to stare blankly into the middle distance. “The reason we’ve been overrun with kraken, were-kraken, sirens, merfolk, narwhals and every fucking dokkaebi under the moon, is because Wooyoung is acting like a beacon. He’s calling all those creatures to him, because to a siren royalty, they’re all prey to be killed and feasted upon.”

“Yes,” Hyunjae agreed. That did sum it up. Pretty neatly too.

“But it’s okay! Because Wooyoung’s blood is poisonous!”

Sunwoo nodded. “Extremely. One sip and all water kin would die in horrible agony.”

“Fantastic.”

Sangyeon was looking incredibly sympathetic. “Do you need a moment?”

The captain blinked and focused on Sangyeon. “I’m descended from water dragons,” he said, voice light. “Did you know that? I’ve always loved the water, always felt at home in it. Like I belonged. I had the same feeling when I met Wooyoung. Just this strong pull, you know?”

Sangyeon blinked back. “Um. We suspected you might be a dragon, yes...”

“Wooyoung is one of my lovers.”

“Ah. Ohhhh. Well, that… Uhhh.”

“Wow,” Hyunjae said. “You really like living dangerously.”

*

Jongho and Seonghwa had been walking around the remains of the were-kraken-snake. They made a full circle and paused where Yunho, Wooyoung and Yeosang were sitting. “I think--” Jongho said, and startled when every single person in the vicinity turned to look at him. He fell silent until Hongjoong gestured for him to continue. “I think we should do something about this. I’m not sure what happens if it turns back into a kraken, but I don’t think it’ll go well for anything in the area.”

“What can we do though?” Yunho prodded the snake’s head with his sword. Even if he tried, it would take hours for him to cut through the body. He said as much.

“We could light it up,” the redhead with the ponytail suggested. Yunho deduced that his name was probably Eric when half the Stormborn automatically went “Eric no!” Eric looked indignant. “Don’t Eric no me, it’s a valid idea!”

“Appreciate the initiative,” the Stormborn leader said. “But I’m not sure setting the area on fire would help as much as you think.”

“Well, we’d have a different problem, so there’s that,” Yeosang noted under his breath.

Yunho suppressed a snort.

“Actually, it might not be a bad idea,” Seonghwa said slowly. “My air aspect isn’t very strong, but if me and Hongjoong work with your mage and your fire dragon, we might be able to control it.”

Yunho couldn’t even be surprised anymore. Of course Seonghwa was an air dragon. Of course.

*

Hyunjae had been relegated to stomping on embers to make sure the fire didn’t flare up again. It wasn’t the most exciting job, but since he could do it while holding Jacob’s hand, he was fine with it.

“This is definitely the most efficient way of doing this,” Jacob said, kicking some dirt over smoldering snake remains.

“Yes,” Hyunjae said happily. “I’d argue it boosts my efficiency by 110 percent. Maybe more. I think we should science it out.”

“What, hand holding’s effect on firefighting?”

“On our fighting in general, I thought.”

“Well,” Jacob said thoughtfully, swinging their hands as they continued down their assigned snake section. “There’s only one way to find out.”

*

“Let’s go get Mingi,” Hongjoong said, once they were all back aboard the Illusion again, stinking of burned were-kraken. “Let’s go home.”

Yunho closed his eyes in relief.

Finally.