When Jonghyun came to, his body ached as if it had been run over by at least dozens of heavy trucks and his head was so heavy he could barely lift it without making it throb painfully. He blinked his eyes open, squinting at the ceiling and the light moving across it weirdly. He sat up with great effort, groaning at the way every cell in his body loudly protested. He quickly forgot his pain when he realised he was not in the compartment on the cruise ship, but in a large bedroom, lit up by an unidentifiable source of turquoise light, which moved gently across the room as if was disrupted by something. The walls were made out of polished white stone and the floor of shiny, white-blue stone. It reflected the light of another light source – a chandelier made out of conches and sea stars.

Jonghyun gaped at it. He had never seen such a thing. He crawled forward on the bed to take a closer look. That was when he noticed the cover was made out of light green seaweed and that pink corals built up the bedposts. He blinked at them. What kind of weird hobby did the owner of this place have? He pulled his hand over the cover gently, surprised at the softness of it.

A movement to his left caught his eye and he turned his head, his heart skipping a beat when he saw a school of small, silvery fish pass by the window closest to him. He quickly slid out of bed, stumbling a little in his haste, and completely forgot about the ache in his body as he almost ran to the window, staring outside with wide eyes.

His breath caught when he saw sand so yellow it almost looked golden stretch out in front of him, clusters of seaweed swaying gently with the water and fish racing back and forth playfully.

“I’m underwater,” he whispered to himself.

He put a hand to the glass of the window to lean in further in an attempt to look closer but pulled back almost immediately as it went straight through. He looked down at his hand, astonishmed it was still dry, before looking at the window again. He took a small breath, only to hold it as he pressed his hand against what he previously had thought was glass. It appeared it was instead just an invisible barrier holding the water at bay and he watched his hand pass through it, out into the ocean, eyes wide and amazed.

“Whoa,” he murmured, wiggling his fingers in the water. “Cool.”

“Are you enjoying yourself?” an amused voice asked behind him and he spun around, his hand making a small ‘plop’-sound as he abruptly pulled it back.

“I-I,” he stammered but stopped when he came face to face with a tall man, who looked around his age. His light-brown hair shone in the light and his brown eyes appraised Jonghyun with great interest. It kind of reminded Jonghyun of Jinki. “Where am I?”

The man raised his eyebrows.

“You do not know?” he asked, sounding very surprised, and Jonghyun frowned at him.

“Of course I don’t,” he said. “I woke up just a few minutes ago.”

The man stared at him incredulously in the beat of silence that followed. Then he burst into peals of laughter, once again reminding Jonghyun of Jinki.

“Oh, this is wonderful,” the man chortled. “Absolutely wonderful.”

Jonghyun was starting to get annoyed and he crossed his arms, glaring at him. If Jinki was as protective of him as he had been the past few days, Jonghyun was sure he would not let this man off easy.

“I don’t know what you’re on about, but you seem like someone Jinki would know so I suggest you let me go,” he huffed.

“Or what?” the man continued to laugh. “You will hurt me?”

Jonghyun growled, not at all in the mood for the situation he found himself in.

“No, but Jinki will.”

“If by Jinki you mean Poseidon, I would not doubt your word, as you are who you are," the man said, looking at him with mirth still clear in his eyes.

“You’re not making any sense at all,” Jonghyun grumbled. “Why did you kidnap me?”

“Kidnap you?” the man grinned wickedly. “I rescued you.”

“So then, you will help me back to the boat?”

The man's grin grew and he shook his head.

“Not likely,” he said, his amused expressions darkening as he approached Jonghyun. He grabbed Jonghyun's chin in a vice grip to stare at him with malicious mischief. “You see, I need my dear papa to return here and get me out of the house arrest he put me in and you are the perfect bait. If he does not grant my wishes, I will make sure he knows you suffer the consequences.”

Jonghyun swallowed nervously, jerking away from the hold.

“You’re his son?” he asked disbelievingly, ignoring the small pang of jealousy in his chest.

It must have shown on his face somehow, since the man laughed again.

“You needn’t be jealous,” he smirked. “My and my half-siblings' mothers were merely a distraction to forget the pain in his heart.”

He turned around with a small wave of his hand, gesturing to a painting of a young woman hanging above the bed that Jonghyun hadn’t noticed.

“Recognise her?” he asked cryptically.

She was beautiful; long, dark and wavy hair looking like it was forever flowing behind her in a soft breeze, her cheeks naturally rosy and her eyes sparkling with excitement from something he couldn’t see. She was wearing a pretty white, antique-looking dress.

Realisation hit him hard and a growing ache in his chest suddenly made it difficult for him to breathe.

“Jinki’s soulmate?” he whispered.

There was no answer and he looked back at the young man only to realise he had disappeared. Letting out a shaky breath, he turned to the painting of the beautiful girl again, moving closer as he inspected it.

It didn’t really look like a painting, or even a picture. It seemed too alive to be either even though it wasn’t moving at all. But something about the way it looked made Jonghyun feel as if it was literally a memory put on a canvas, there to live on forever without fading with age. To forever let Jinki look at it and remember.

“Why didn’t you stay alive?” he whispered to it, a lump forming in his throat. “He wouldn’t be hurt and breaking apart if only you had stayed with him.”

A tear ran down his cheek and he made an irritated sound, drying it with the back of his hand and turning away. Then he angrily stomped over to the door and pulled at it with much more force than he usually would, assuming it was locked. He stumbled back ungracefully as it slid open easily, hitting the wall with a loud thud.

He stared at the opening dumbly for a moment, then hesitantly leaned out to check if there was anyone nearby. He was met by the sight of the longest corridor he had ever seen, hundreds of doors littering the walls in uneven intervals. A large shadow passed over the floor and his heart jumped up his throat. He looked up expecting to find some weird creature above him, but discovered the ceiling was made out of the same glass – or water-thing-barrier – the window in the bedroom had been, letting in the same turqoise light as it had in the room.

Breathing a sigh of relief it, Jonghyun checked for signs of life in the corridor again. When he couldn't hear or see anything he quickly made his way out the door and began running in a random direction, triumphant at his easy escape. Now he just needed to get back to the ship and–

He skidded to a stop, his shoes squeaking loudly against the floor.

Of course he wouldn’t be imprisoned in the bedroom. Jinki's son knew he couldn’t make it back to the surface on his own, rendering it useless to lock the door.

Growling in annoyance and defeat, he kicked at a little table made of white coral to his right which supported an overgrown, potted seaweed plant on it. The pot swayed dangerously before stilling and Jonghyun glared at the green strands, which almost reached the floor.

“Well, what the hell am I supposed to do now?” he asked it in irritation.

A distant shout of joy made him jump and he quickly scurried his way over to the closest door, tumbling inside the room just as he heard hurried footsteps in the distance echoing down the long corridor. He closed it as quickly and quietly as he could and pressed his ear to it, listening intently.

“He is on his way,” he recognised the voice of Jinki's son saying to someone, his loud voice bouncing off the walls. “I need to bring the boy to the grand hall.”

Jonghyun closed his eyes tightly, leaning his forehead against the door. He hoped Jinki's son didn’t have some unnatural sensors that would enable him to feel Jonghyun's presence or something. He had no desire at all to suffer those consequences he had mentioned earlier. Breathing in deeply a few times to calm his trembling limbs, he turned around, his eyes widening.

He was in a room which looked more like some sort of gallery at a museum. It held portraits of at least twenty different people of different ages and nationalities hanging on the walls looking as alive as the one in the bedroom had. As he took a step further into the room to inspect the paintings, he wondered if Jinki was the one who had made all of them. Something told Jonghyun Jinki had a lot to do with these portraits. The first thought he had was that they were Jinki's past lovers, painted to be remembered, but his theory changed when he found portraits of not only young men and women but small boys and girls as well. Family, maybe?

He took a step closer to a painting of a small boy with blond hair sticking up in different directions and big curious eyes staring at him cheerfully. He was laughing at something and Jonghyun could almost hear the sound of it as he took another step closer.

Suddenly it felt like someone had thrown him straight into a wall, hard, and his breath left his lungs in a surprised gasp. He fell onto all four and his vision of his hands and the floor changed into a road filled with people, dust flying in the air and loud chatter surrounding him as someone tugged on his hand with excited urgency. He barely managed to glimpse the back of the person pulling him along before the vision morphed into glittering waves, the sound of them hitting against the boat he was on lulling him along with the gentle graze of fingertips against his arm as he leaned into someone’s warm chest. Then it became a field of the greenest grass, someone calling and a child’s euphoric laughter ringing in his ears. It continued on to a bloody battlefield, moans of pain and agony all around him as his vision filled with teary, familiar amber eyes, agonising pain spreading throughout his entire body.

A tremor going through the floor and walls shook him from whatever spell he was under and he crumpled to the floor. His breath came quick and harsh and his heart pounded as a duller pain than the one he had felt seconds ago spread out to every part of his body. He lay panting on the floor, watching the paintings rattle against the wall, before jumping as a familiar voice made its way over to him.

“Where is he?!” he heard Jinki yell angrily from far away, though he seemed to be coming closer. The sound of Jinki's voice calmed Jonghyun and he tried to get up, but his limbs refused to work properly. “Taphios, where is Jonghyun?!”

“Greetings to you too, father,” the voice of Jinki's son said nonchalantly. “We have not seen each other in such a long time and the first thing you have to say to me is that?”

Even from behind the door, Jonghyun could practically see the smirk on the young man’s lips. He forced himself up on his knees, letting out a silent groan as his aching body stubbornly refused to move the way he wanted it to.

“Jinki,” he tried calling, but his voice was too quiet and hoarse to be heard.

“I do not have the time for your petty games,” Jinki's growling voice grew even closer, and Jonghyun could hear doors being opened and closed with loud bangs. “I need to bring Jonghyun back and find my brother!”

“That’s right,” Taphios said and Jonghyun let out a small triumphant sound as he finally managed to get to his feet without immediately tumbling back to the floor. “I heard uncle was planning something exciting.”

“Taphios,” Jinki warned. Jonghyun staggered towards the door. “Jonghyun. Now.”

“I really wish I could help you, dearest papa,” Taphios sneered. “However, I seem to have misplaced him.”

“Misplaced?” Jinki yelled and Jonghyun stumbled over his own feet as a tremor went through the floor again. He barely managed to catch himself against the wall just beside the door and, after steadying himself, reached for the knob. “You cannot simply misplace a human! I should–”

Jinki cut off as he opened the door and nearly sent Jonghyun back to the floor. They stared at each other in shocked silence for second.

“See, found him!” Taphios said cheerily, appearing behind Jinki. “No harm done!”

Jonghyun sent him a scathing glare but Jinki completely ignored him in favour of pulling Jonghyun into his arms. He buried his nose in the crook of Jonghyun's neck and took a deep breath before pressing kisses up the length of it, pecking his way to his mouth. Jonghyun felt the warmth that always accompanied Jinki's touches spread through his chest and body, taking away the ache and at the same time making him blush.

“Are you hurt?” Jinki asked worriedly as he pulled back and Jonghyun managed a weak smile at him.

“No,” he murmured, his voice still not quite back to normal.

Jinki smiled back, giving his lips a quick, gentle kiss again before pulling back completely. He was about to say someting else, but Jonghyun heard his breath catch and saw his eyes widen as he glanced around the room. Then he swiftly pulled Jonghyun out into the corridor and closed the door.

“Did my son… say anything?” he asked and Jonghyun frowned, glancing over Jinki's shoulder at Taphios. He grinned at him mischievously before making a grimace at Jinki's back.

“No,” Jonghyun answered slowly, looking back at Jinki's worried face and trying to smile reassuringly. “But he showed me the painting of your… soulmate. Or at least I think she was.”

Jinki swallowed harshly, an apprehensive expression on his face, and he seemed like he wanted to explain himself. Jonghyun reached out and grabbed his hand, trying to tell him it wasn’t necessary.

“So, father,” Taphios piped up and Jinki turned to him with narrowed eyes, which were ignored. “What I asked for, if you please.”

“No,” Jinki growled. “I need to keep an eye on you, even more so now than before. Did you really think I would let you go without punishment for what you have done? You abducted Jonghyun!”

“Rescued,” Taphios corrected irately. “Rescued. Is no one able to tell the difference anymore? If I hadn’t told Herophile to help him, he would be dead by now.”

Herophile? He hadn’t been helped by anyone as far as he remembered. He had been trying to help a little girl who then turned out to be–

“Wait, was she the blond woman?” he asked.

Taphios smirked at him.

“Yes. She told me there were Imprints on the ship so I decided to lend a small hand and take you somewhere they could not follow.”

“Imprints?” Jonghyun felt even more confused. Where was Kibum when he needed him?

“Those masked figures you saw earlier at the port,” Jinki explained to him in a murmur, sceptically appraising his son as if trying to figure out if he was telling the truth or not.

“Oh.” Jonghyun frowned.

Then, if Taphios had kidnapped him in order to save him, what was with the threat he had made earlier?

“But you told me you were going to hurt me!” Jonghyun accused and Taphios raised his eyebrows. “You know, if Jinki didn’t give you what you wanted!”

“Oh, that,” he laughed heartily. “It was just a joke! You should have seen your face! It was quite entertaining.”

“What?!” Jonghyun growled and took a threatening step forward. Jinki put out an arm to stop him while Taphios continued to laugh.

“You certainly are quite adorable,” Taphios chuckled and Jinki gave him a warning look. “So, as you see, father, I do think I should be let free of the house arrest. I have behaved very well, rescuing your loved one and all.”

Jinki frowned at him, narrowing his eyes suspiciously.

“That is questionable,” he said after a moment before rubbing his forehead tiredly and sighing. “Very well, have your wish. Just leave Jonghyun be. Tell your sister that as well.”

Without waiting for the answer, he swiftly waved his hand in the direction of Taphios. Jonghyun couldn’t see any difference but apparently Taphios felt it because he grinned widely and bounced over to kiss Jinki on the cheek.

“Why thank you, dearest papa!” he said cheerily. Then he bounded down the corridor and out of sight.

Jonghyun raised an amused eyebrow at Jinki and he grumbled something unintelligible, rubbing his cheek with an annoyed frown.

“He never misses a chance to play his little games,” Jinki muttered. “I cannot understand from where he inherited that misbehaviour.”

Jonghyun snorted, trying very hard not to burst out laughing, and Jinki looked at him questioningly. He just shook his head.

“Why was he imprisoned here anyway?” he asked.

Jinki wrinkled his nose.

“I had asked him to sign a peace treaty with another half divine being on my behalf. However, he let his priorities stray and ended up in a celestial brothel. I had to put him under house arrest for his misconduct.”

Jonghyun chuckled.

“So even gods ground their children?”

Jinki just looked at him blankly, obviously not understanding that term, and Jonghyun shrugged at him, giving up.

“Is this your house?” Jonghyun asked, waving around at the walls.

“Not quite,” Jinki said. He took his hand and began pulling him down the corridor in the opposite direction Taphios had gone. “We are in the sea of the gods’ realm at the moment and this is my underwater castle built for my leisure. Except for when we wish to be alone, we gods live together in the palace my older brother built.”

“Huh, so this is like your summer house,” Jonghyun mumbled and Jinki gave him another questioning look. He just smiled at him, receiving a warm, confused grin in turn.

“We need to return to the ship quickly,” Jinki said as he continued to pull on Jonghyun's hand, now dragging him through a massive entrance hall, judging by the large wooden door looming over them. “Humans are not supposed to be in this realm, the divine air and powers are too much for you to handle and will slowly kill you.”

Jonghyun swallowed nervously.

“Okay. So how do we get back?”

Jinki stopped in front of the doors and gave him an impish grin.

“My way.”

A/N: I'm aware this isn't the best (hell none of my chapters are), so sorry OTL I seriously at proofreading and such

So, to those of you who are curious Taphios is Kyuhyun and Herophile is Jessica... yep, don't ask why haha

I hope you liked it and that it made some sense at least, hahaha...

Okay, so lots of love to y'all! <3

Bye~!