Chanyeol comes to with raging headache and a pair of panicked doe eyes hovering over his face. Flashing irises flit across his features, flooded with silent screams of confusion and concern but Chanyeol is unable to register anything other than the deafening ringing in his ears

He is quick to realise that he's in an unfamiliar place, resting on an unfamiliar bed, in an unfamiliar situation but the figure, who is familiar to him, keeps the wave of panic working its way up the back of his throat at bay. Not for long, though. Kyungsoo's mouth moves at rapid fire, pain bleeding into his expression in a way Chanyeol has never seen it before. The red haired male is unable to hear him, his ears drowning out all sounds, only giving way to suffocating white noise that overpowers the tiny man's tired vocals. Chanyeol can do nothing but frown back in response.

Another character waltzes their way into the skit amid the chaos. Dark eyes set against dark skin dart between Chanyeol and Kyungsoo belonging to a tall, tanned figure who moves to stand at the latter's side. His eyes are riddled with worry. Chanyeol registers how his mouth moves too: slower than Kyungsoo's; taking his time to form each syllable and let it flow from his tongue, lips steadily forming calmer words that he is better able to decipher. "Kyungsoo, calm down," they say in contrast to the latter's frenzied monolougue.

Kyungsoo only fires up, a flurry of scathing sparks as he hisses out words of anger at the male. His feral eyes float decibels above the buzzing in Chanyeol's ears whose temperamental hearing holds up long enough to catch onto the enraged growl of, "Jongin."

This allows the red-haired male to finally fit together some pieces of a blurred out and scattered puzzle. This unfamiliar place is probably Jongin's or Kyungsoo's - or Jongin-and-Kyungsoo's - home and they had probably come to retrieve him from the bar after all hell had broken loose in it. At least, for Chanyeol it had been hell.

( "Don't tell me to calm down, Jongin! I don't know where Baekhyun is. What if something's happened to him? There were witnesses of a disturbance in the bar they were in and when I got there- I could only found Chanyeol knocked out and Baekhyun was nowhere to be seen I- Jongin I have to find him." )

Piercing ringing soon fades into a frenzied babbling voice and Chanyeol is forced to recall the distressingly blurred events of the not-so-distant past while bearing through the sound of Kyungsoo coming undone. He shifts his gaze away. Wishes for the peace that silence had brought him.

Clouded over eyes move to look out the window, skimming over the melodramatic show of the couple in front just as Jongin darts out a hand to grab Kyungsoo's arm, only to have it furiously wrenched from his grip. Chanyeol's heart gives a heavy pang as he can only imagine the way Jongin's face could have fallen at the rejection, a feeling the red head has become too well acquainted with lately.

Beyond the window, the twin suns are on the verge of setting, just like they had been at the bar when everything that could have gone wrong did. It has either been a few hours or an entire day since Baekhyun's capture. He's not sure which setting is more unsettling. Chanyeol screws his eyes shut, blocking out the sights and sounds and smells around him, blocking out the flurry of events seamlessly playing out behind his closed eyelids, like a movie that was given the wrong kind of ending. He wishes to stay like this, in the darkness, in the silence, in the emptiness. He wishes to pretend like none of this ever happened. If he imagines hard enough he can almost smell the sea breeze, almost can stretch out and feel the soft prevailing wind against his flesh, can almost remember his life before Baekhyun.

Baekhyun.

The cursed name alone has him feeling as if a knife were being plunged into his chest by an invisible hand with unfathomable motives, repeatedly, mercilessly.

Merciless.

He could laugh at the word itself.

It's something he's always described Baekhyun as.

Merciless in the way he kills without a second thought, merciless in the way he has let rage and loneliness devour him whole, merciless in the way he takes it all upon himself and doesn't let anyone else help carry his burden. Merciless in the way he decided what was best for Chanyeol on his own and merciless in the way he allowed himself to get tangled up in the trap he'd helped set. Whichever way fate would have decided to have played out the whole situation, Chanyeol reckons he still would've ended up with Baekhyun slipping through his fingers.

Merciless in the way he can never leave Chanyeol's mind, the latter reckons too. Merciless in the way he still has such a strong grip around his heart, despite all the feelings poisoning his blood. Vengeance. Anger. Confusion. Betrayal. Among these, even now, the longing for the man who had wanted to throw him away still prevails, still resounds within him above all else. The man once and twice thrown away balls his fists into white bed sheets in aggravation. After all he'd done to try and get to know Baekhyun, all he'd done to try and pry away pieces of him to keep in exchange for the offering of his own, the stubborn man had thought he could just easily erase it all with one rocket ride back to Earth and demons in blue.

"Baekhyun," Chanyeol musters out the only word he can think of, the name that sings throughout his entire body and simultaneously boils his blood. It immediately catches Kyungsoo's attention, who whips his head around to look at him, the red head's deep baritone having cut off his previous words, leaving them hanging from his lips like a noose that swings in the wind. They die out as does the look in Kyungsoo's eyes when the other speaks up again. "They took him."

Chanyeol, for some reason, expects the Captain's closest friend to let out a broken sob, to break down, to scream, to shout, to bury his small face into his lover's chest and give way to the pain that must surely be overtaking every nerve of his body. But he does none of the above. Instead, he looks at Chanyeol with an expression of steel and presses a finger against the telecommunicator in his ear. Every single crew member of the Exodus had been issued one before leaving the ship and told to never remove it, to always be on standby. Chanyeol guesses this isn't the first time the Captain's gotten himself into such a scrape on one of their pit stops.

( Chanyeol hadn't been issued with one because it was assumed that he would be by the Captain's side at all times. What a joke that has become. )

"Vacation's been cut short," Kyungsoo says, voice and expression heavy. "I need everyone back on the Exodus in the next half hour." He must have gotten some complaints back from his ever playful crew mates for Chanyeol watches quietly as the unfeeling facade Kyungsoo had constructed morphs into one of fury. It is a look perfectly copied from the Captain himself. He bares his teeth and growls. "I said I want everyone back on that bloody ship ASAP. The Captain's been compromised."

He says no more as he rips the piece of technology from his ear and shifts his icy attention to Chanyeol, levelling him with a glower that isn't really meant for him.

"Can you walk?" he asks. Chanyeol can only manage a hesitant nod, taken aback by the other male's sudden change in demeanour. Late nights and warm cookies are paling memories in the harsh light of this reality. "Then we'll leave as soon as possible."

Kyungsoo turns on his heel, determination in his heart and a mission in his sight. He moves to get his things ready, pack them all up in his little rucksack that he'd been carrying with him when he'd gotten off the Exodus, never packing in it what's more than necessary since he knows he won't ever be sticking around for too long. A bronzed hand curls itself tightly around his forearm mid-movement, making him drop the possessions he was so hastily shoving back into his bag in surprise. He turns to see Jongin looking down at him, aura ablaze and beautiful inscriptions that crawl up the backs of his arms, snake over his shoulders and come to a halt at the base of his neck glowing a faint blue. He doesn't wrench himself away this time.

A Veni. Chanyeol is quick to identify him, having greatly expanded his knowledge of different species and planets after his 4 months aboard the Exodus. He thinks it makes sense now because Jongin does not at all look like Kyungsoo. He is much larger, much taller with skin the colour of caramel and blissful summer months. His eyes do not flash electrifying purple when experiencing extreme lashes of emotion or when playing with his powers like his smaller lover's do. Jongin's instead remain forever pitch black and look so utterly sad.

It is said that the Veni are the most beautiful creatures to walk this Universe. The spirals and patterns painted onto their bodies by the nonmaterial hands of the Divine who had blessed them serve as a mark of their race. Their forever radiating beauty can lure even the most purest of souls into a bottomless pit of lust and want for them. Many a Veni had been seen to sit on the thrones of planets all throughout the solar system, usually not rulers themselves as they were far too gentle for such a distressing lifestyle, but as consorts or spouses of Kings and Queens. They were said to have driven even the most powerful of rulers to the depths of madness with their ethereality. And that had been their downfall. Their race had become hunted out of a desperate need for them. Chanyeol remembers hearing tales of trafficking, murder and slavery rising to such terrifying rates that Venus has since become an abandoned planet as its population sought refuge elsewhere from the foreigners that would come to their land and steal their children away in the night. The remaining Veni now live scattered throughout the cosmos and are protected by the government.

"Don't go, Kyungsoo," the blessed child whispers. His voice is deep and sweet, perfectly made to be craved. Chanyeol thinks that while Jongin is so dazzling it is hard to look straight at him, he would much rather glare into smoky, kohl-rimmed eyes that haunt him even in the sweetest of dreams.

Kyungsoo however, in his fit of rage, is seemingly unaffected by his lover's charms. "What do you want me to do, Jongin? Leave him? Leave my friend?" He's shouting. He knows he's shouting. But for Technicians who are only capable of the most basic feelings, Kyungsoo can't manage anything else. Not even tears of frustration, not even grief or vengeance. Only anger that has no particular target, just anyone who crosses his path. And for Jongin, who blocks his road with his entire body and pleading eyes, Kyungsoo can show him no mercy.

But when the smaller's blind fury meets no opponent save for the undiluted sadness that exudes out from the pure soul Jongin bares clear for him to see, the Technician falters. "I don't want you to go again," his lover repeats. "Stop leaving me behind. This foreign world is even more unfamiliar without you here to ground me. I can't keep waiting for you all alone. I don't even know when you'll come back. I-" his breathing hitches and his lover seems to shatter with it. "Sometimes I worry if you'll ever come back."

Violet eyes flitter across the face they have been memorising, neglecting and relearning for so long now. The doe-eyed male bites his lip, torn as he reaches up to cup his lover's crestfallen face to feel skin smooth as rose petals kissing the pads of his fingertips. Chanyeol takes this as his cue to look away. This isn't a scene he should be allowed to witness. One that makes his heart ache in his chest for more reasons that one. "I'll be back. After this- after I come back this time, I'll never leave you again. I promise." Chanyeol swings his legs over the side of the bed and gets himself ready soundlessly. "I'm not going back to Baekhyun, that reckless little . He didn't even tell anyone where he was going, he didn't tell anyone - not even Chanyeol - what he was doing, he didn't even call for ing backup in case it all went to . I hate him, I hate him so much, Jongin. Why can't he just trust, why can't he just stop bringing himself such pain-" his words are cut off by a lashing hiccup as he finally breaks down, only managing to shed a single tear while his small fists drum themselves against his gentle lover's chest in frenzy, asking again and again; "why why why?"

Chanyeol gazes out the window at the fading twin suns. He wonders why, too.

//

Chanyeol and Kyungsoo sit opposite each other on the Tube. It's a train that runs over the capital city of Technos, completely constructed out of glass and both males watch with distant thoughts obscuring their features as the city - glittering with all its colours and lights - passes them by, a million or so people going about their ordinary lives right underneath their feet. They marvel at the sight, get lost in it while they can for they do not know when they will next be back.

It's been a day.

Kyungsoo had told Chanyeol it had taken him a day to wake up. It had been a day since Baekhyun was taken. Anything could have happened to him in a day, he could have been tortured, he could have been handed over to the Intergalactic authorities already, he could be dead. The thought of the said man has Chanyeol's heart clenching along with his fists as conflicting, polar emotions take over him. He digs his nails into his palms, the acute pain distracting him from his more agonising thoughts if only for a brief second.

Kyungsoo is quick to pick up on the fiery haired male's distress, more in tune with other people's emotions than his own.

"You're angry," he states simply. In this moment, Chanyeol wishes that he were like Kyungsoo, a robot fashioned by the universe, built to build and programme technology without the need to deal with his own feelings. He wishes he could control his own mind and heart and keep the blind emtions seeping into his veins at bay.

"Am I?" the redhead asks gruffly. He doesn't look at the shorter, choosing to keep his focus on billboards and skyscrapers set against an inky indigo sky as they flicker by. Kyungsoo hugs his rucksack against his chest with Jongin's touch still lingering against his skin.

"You are," Kyungsoo replies simply, but then his eyebrows furrow and Chanyeol suddenly feels , as if all his thoughts are on display for Kyungsoo to see. He crosses his arms defensively across his chest. "But you're not angry at the enemy. You're angry at Baekhyun." The accusatory tone in his voice has Chanyeol gritting his teeth. He is not a Technician like Kyungsoo. He is a human and sometimes humans can't help feeling the way they feel. But he wouldn't expect anything that is not human to understand that.

Baekhyun was once my enemy, he wants to say, but he knows it's no longer true. He also knows it wouldn't help him in this situation. It's like how back on the Merida, if there were even a hint of someone thinking of attempting mutiny on board, Chanyeol would have had to have disposed of them right away. Someone's already tried to dispose of him once today, he doesn't wish it to happen a second time.

"That's strange considering the two of you-"

Chanyeol's blood runs cold and his attention is ripped from its place, buried deep in his thoughts.

"You know that we-"

"Were frolicking. Yes, I know. Sound travels, Chanyeol," he says with a quiet chuckle before the atmosphere turns sombre again, settling over them like a thick blanket of ash. The fiery haired male hates how the tips of his ears still manage to tinge red despite it all.

"But you're mad at him."

"Am I?" he repeats for a lack of anything else to say. He feels suffocated and squirms in his seat, he doesn't want to acknowledge anything, has been keeping the feelings repressed, trapped within himself since he'd woken up but they'd been eating away at him, trying to surface. And Kyungsoo, as always, tries his best to understand, tries his best to have empathy. He's great at figuring out other people's emotions, Chanyeol reckons, but understanding them is another job entirely.

The doe-eyed male releases a little sigh and Chanyeol mirrors him. "Baekhyun only meant the best by his actions, you know. He only wanted you to go home because-"

"Because he cares about me?" the taller snaps out before he can even catch himself. His eyes are trailed on the stars that twinkle in the distance, embedded in the colour of the night. Stars always look so beautiful from far away, the people who have not seen their true images are so easily fooled by them. But Chanyeol knows better. They are nothing but balls of burning gas. In this situation, Chanyeol knows better than Kyungsoo. "Is that it? To me, it felt a lot more like him trying to get rid of me because he thought things were getting too serious and it scared him."

He's said the words that have been needed to be said, the words that had been floating around in the back of his mind since he saw the first flash of blue, maybe even before that, maybe he had even felt the words, syllables, letters start to pile up on the tip of tongue, hidden behind his teeth since the first time Baekhyun had told him he had to go back home. He was fast to make his decision and Chanyeol's fast to speculate his own reasons as to why.

He takes in deep breaths to try and calm himself, the hurt mixing with the aggravation running in his blood. He remembers Baekhyun's eyes always fluttering away from him, always shutting him out, pupils focusing on anything else but him. He remembers Baekhyun turning him down every time he'd managed to gather up the courage to take a chance and reach out to him: pulling his hand away, always avoiding his lips in the broad daylight. He remembers only being permitted to hold his petite body at night, the only time when Baekhyun would actually admit to the fiery haired man, himself and everyone else who lived in their little world that he actually wanted and needed the latter to feel sane, just as much as he himself was needed by Chanyeol. He remembers memories drowned in blue and stained with red.

But then he also remembers Baekhyun's sad smile as he told him about the multiple places he'd once called home with his lips but never with his heart, he remembers Baekhyun in the bar, telling him about his singing, opening up to him, allowing him in and he remembers his cheeky grin as he with light eyes that curled into breathtaking crescent moons.

The two men stay silent for the rest of the train ride and Chanyeol is almost thankful for it.

//

Baekhyun sleeps another wakeful night in his new, hostile environment: nightmares as dark as ever, shadows circling around him, cornering their prey before latching themselves onto his body to drain the life out from his tired body. He thinks he sees the end of his suffering in the tenebrosity, in the eerily comforting promise of an eternal rest. He thinks he sees a light at the end of the tunnel, coming to grant him the one thing he's been searching for his entire, half lived life; peace.

But it has come to offer him a different sort of salvation, breaking through the murky clouds of storm and thunder and melting away the monsters that lurk within them. Beams of brilliance brighten up the bleakness swallowing Baekhyun whole, washing him with a warmth that he now recognises like he would his own voice.

But when he opens his eyes, the light retreats like lightning; there one second and gone the next, leaving him to fend for himself amidst the darkness. A cold wave crashing against his heart.

Tears prick in his eyes as he finds it is not only the gloom that entraps him, but an entire steel cage that taunts him; a Captain once so free. Or at least that's how the world - so many worlds - had seen him. Chains encase his blackened wrists in their iron grip, clutching onto their treasure; their greatest catch. He is alone now, helpless, vulnerable and everything he'd vowed never to be ever again. All because he had tried to chase away - to push away - a source of redemption that had only wanted to save him.

Whilst dropping his head down to look at grimy, dungeon floors and digging his teeth into his lower lip to keep pathetic whimpers at bay, Captain Byun Baekhyun can do nothing but regret.

//

The Exodus is buzzing once again. But it's not with a buzz of excited chatter. It's a buzz of shared anger; shared bloodlust. Each pirate is decorated with weapons and artillery and each one only sees red. After having been updated on the current situation, the rebels of the Exodus gather around now in the communal hall and form a circle around Kyungsoo, positioned in the middle. They are all seething.

"I've set the Exodus on a course for Earth. We'll be there within a day. Once we land, I don't care about anything else; our only, sole focus is getting the Captain back," Kyungsoo declares, stepping forwards to organise the crew in Baekhyun's absence. He is not nearly as commanding and harsh as the other male is but his aura demands respect and attention, something that doesn't even need to be requested for the crew is already willing enough to hand it over.

Chanyeol sees a parallel in the two friends' style of leadership in their matching dark auras and eyes as well as in the way they enjoy riling up their men before a mission; it makes them seem like they know what they're doing. Like they can be trusted. But he has to wonder whether Kyungsoo really does know what he's doing or if this is another one of those fronts that he and the true Captain of the Exodus do so enjoy putting on. With that thought, another parallel uncovers itself.

"Is that your entire plan?" he asks, frowning from his place at the edge of the circle. He is rewarded with glinting glares from some of the men around him - the ones who'd never quite managed to warm up to him - but he grits his teeth and ignores them. No matter how much their hostility irks him, he does not wish to be a witness to their demise, which could practically be guaranteed if they were to go with this poor plan of attack. They can't save Baekhyun if they're all dead. "We can't go into this blind. They've probably kept Baekhyun in the dungeon at the main Navy base," he would know for he has put plenty of men down there himself, "it's going to be surrounded by armed guards and you want us to what? Just all dive in? That's suicide."

"What do you propose we do?"

Kyungsoo almost looks as betrayed as he sounds from his position at the centre of the circle; the centre of attention. The space in which he stands is reserved for the man with the highest authority aboard the ship. All men look to the middle, all men look forwards to see their temporary leader being questioned, doubted. Some start to doubt too.

"I propose-"

"I'm not taking orders from him," a voice, who is surprisingly not Jongdae barks out, cutting off Chanyeol's next words. He looks over at the latter with an expression filled with scorn and contempt. The iciness of his voice is quick to spread and infect others, chilling their bodies, freezing their hearts. "He's the whole reason our Captain got captured in the first place. Who knows whether or not he was working with the sailors who took Byun. We can't trust him. We should just end him right now."

A quiet chorus of agreement ripples through the gathering of frenzied pirates. It is not a large number of pirates who nod their heads and snarl in Chanyeol's direction, it is nowhere near enough to be the majority, but it is enough. Enough to accelerate the spread of unease that rocks the ship.

Anger and resentment sings through the bodies of the rebels and with nowhere to direct it, Chanyeol takes the role of their scapegoat.

"I can assure you all Chanyeol hasn't done such a thing," snaps the doe-eyed man in the centre to the men he is rapidly losing control over.

"Why not? Because he was the Captain's little toy?"

Chanyeol pretends like that one doesn't sting.

In fact, he pretends like nothing fazes him at all. 4 months aboard the ship, surrounded by facades and hidden truths has almost made him forget that he's just as good at pretending as Kyungsoo and Baekhyun are. He hardens his posture, rolls his shoulders back and pushes his chest out to the heavens just as he'd been trained to do his entire life, taking on the stance of a man who wields all the power in the world despite not physically possessing even an ounce of it.

"We cannot let ourselves become divided in a time like this!" he bellows, swallowing down his frustration. After thinking he was actually making some progress in getting these people to warm up to him, he is punched in the gut with reality. His father can fail him, Baekhyun can fail him, the people he thought were his friends and the places he thought were his home could fail him. But prejudice could never fail him.

His hands are balled tightly by his sides as he strides into the centre of the circle, crossing into holy territory, stepping over the threshold as if it were no big feat. It isn't but he feels the entire atmosphere drop in temperature. "We all have one goal, we want the Captain back so please let's put aside our differences and work together. I am a naval Captain I know-"

"There's no point flashing your high status and pretty title here, human. We aren't the sailors you reign over," a shrill voice - that actually is Jongdae this time - cries out amidst the growing tension and steadily increasing volume of doubtful murmurs. Chanyeol's never particularly liked Jongdae and Jongdae's never particularly liked Chanyeol, either. The taller just hopes that the man likes Baekhyun enough to put their bad blood aside.

"You're right," Chanyeol snaps back, all hisses and undeniable authority, undeniable intimidation. "You're better. You're ruthless, you're loyal, you'd do anything to get your Captain back. The sailors back on Earth couldn't care less. They'd just get a new Captain and go on with their lives." The stinging in his chest has him supposing that it's the truth and not just some propaganda crafted up to be fed to the pirates. They eat it up regardless. "I respect you all. But I am part of the navy. I know how they think, what their tactics are, where they are keeping him. I can be of help, I can help you get him back just as long as you all trust me."

I want him back just as badly as you all do.

A tremor of uncertainty rumbles through his skeptical audience. Some pirates look ready to trust him - the ones he'd already won over ages ago. They are the ones who don't care for his race or background, but for what he offers their cause. Right now, their cause is Baekhyun. And Chanyeol is almost ashamed of all the things he is willing to offer in exchange for him. Other pirates, however, look unsure, unwilling to listen. They exchange glances with each other and Chanyeol is left feeling on edge despite the confidence that exudes out of him. He briefly wonders if here will be mutiny aboard this ship today.

The thought is quickly pushed away. The Exodus crew are one. They cannot forget that so easily. He believes in them. He does. If he can believe in nothing else, then he can believe in the way he had witnessed scores of men, all from different planets and backgrounds coming together under one roof, in one home, in the Exodus and merging into one body, one team under the bond of love, trust and a thirst to live.

( A distant part of Chanyeol's mind wonders if love could ever fail him too. )

It is when Kyungsoo steps back into the centre of the circle, catching everyone's attention, that the decision is made. That he makes the decision for them.

"We'll do things Chanyeol's way. Those unwilling to cooperate will be left behind on Technos and will have to face the Captain personally when he is restored to his rightful position." His eyes flash violent violet. Simultaeneously, the Exodus' lights flicker around them in an outward display of his wrath, under his control.

Control. That is what the crew of Exodus needs. A single person to control them, a single person to answer to otherwise the differences between those onboard would be too great, enough to tear them apart. Baekhyun was their controller but at the same time, he was their glue, the substance that held them together. And for a brief moment, Chanyeol had seen what it was like to watch the Exodus fall apart without him.

"As you all know," Kyungsoo finishes, "he can be quite determined when trying to track someone down." It is a warning of malice that has those brave enough to speak out scurrying back to their places in fear.

This time when Chanyeol looks around, he is rendered shocked by what he finds. All aboard look to him.

Some gazes seem reluctant while others trusting, some are desperate while a couple are stoned over with determination, only their Captain on their minds. Even Jongdae's hard, unforgiving gaze seems to have softened lightly, respect clouding over to replace resentment.

"Don't this up," Kyungsoo mumbles under his breath before moving backwards to position himself at the edge of the circle, blending in easily to become one with the ring of his crew mates. His second, mismatched family.

Faintly, in the depths of Chanyeol's mind he hears the cry of 'we are one' and thinks that no phrase could be more befitting for the crew of the Exodus.

The new head of the operation nods in Kyungsoo's direction, eyes freezing over with cold determination, illuminated by a burning flame that rages within him. He falls into the persona of a Captain that has been lost for the past 4 months and hopes that 4 months is not enough time for too many things to have a chance to change.

"Alright here's what we're going to do..."

//

Kim Minseok sits idly outside the cell he is guarding, puffing his cheeks. For lack of anything else to occupy himself with, he fiddles with the fraying hem of his royal blue blazer that is not nearly warm enough to protect him from the low temperatures of his less than cosy surroundings. He surveys the damp, underground dungeons for the tenth time tonight and sighs. He is so terribly bored. He looks up to the leaking ceiling above his head, down to the grimy floor beneath his feet and into the dingy cell, where a pirate Captain lies beaten up and bleeding. Something akin to pity pangs in his heart at the sight of him, hunched over onto his knees with his hands chained to the wall by manacles of iron. He wants to ask if the man is alright but has to hold his tongue. He's heard the stories about him, knows the things his prisoner has done. The higher ups had told him that this villan was, "dangerous and not to be approached." And Kim Minseok will be a dead man before he goes against the orders of his superiors.

Minseok himself is just a lowly sailor, recently dragged onto land after a disastrous raid of the previous ship he'd worked on; the Merida. His Captain had been kidnapped by their assailants and not much has been heard about him since. All crew members working under Captain Park Jr. had been transferred to work under the service of Lieutenant Kim and that is how Minseok has wound up stuck in the dark instead of tasting the sweet freedom of the new horizons.

Minseok hadn't been particularly close to his old Captain, however, he had heard good things about him and found he enjoyed working under him much more than he enjoyed being at his new dreary boss' beck and call. Lieutenant Kim had told everyone to assume the worse about their "dear, Captain Park," and Minseok thinks it's a shame, really. His old Captain was all toothy grins and jolly spirits and adventure after adventure while all Lieutenant Kim cared about was keeping prisoners and making money and staying dry.

The sailor puffs out his cheeks again. There's been nothing exciting happening lately.

( He's heard the rumours that his ex-Captain's captor was the very man he'd been put in charge of guarding; Captain Byun Baekhyun. He wonders why Lieutenant Kim hasn't interrogated the pirate on Captain Park's whereabouts yet. Not everyone can forget and move on so quickly. )

"E Exodus-" The prisoner behind him coughs up spittles of blood as he tries to force out words from his scratchy throat. His voice is husky and jagged around the edges from underuse and his fingertips twitch against his metal bindings, pulling against them weakly. Feebly.

Minseok had begun to notice - after numerous hours of guarding the captive - that he is continuously mumbling things to himself. Sometimes they are words of no importance, other times they're pleas for help and forgiveness. It gets worse when he's asleep and at times keeps Minseok himself from nodding off in the late hours of the night. The blood stained male thrashes around and cries and whimpers in his dreams, whispering things like "I'm sorry," and calling out the undeniable name of his ex-Captain; "Chanyeol."

The prisoner pants quietly, pearls of sweat trickling down the nape of his neck. His exposed chest is covered in purpling bruises, cuts and dried blood paint themselves across sore flesh whilst damp raven hair clings to a beaded forehead. Minseok frowns at the sight. He doesn't know why the higher ups insist on hurting the man when he wasn't even being detained for interrogational reasons. But he doesn't speak up for fear of his new commander's angered rebuttal of "know your place and ask no questions," that he had received one too many times. He'd heard from the grapevine that Lieutenant Kim often likes to torture his prisoners. It keeps them weak and unable to fight against him. Minseok supposes such a gruesome tactic works for he hasn't ever seen the pirate trying to fight back. Whenever Minseok had been present to witness the beatings, he just sees the man with his head bowed down in resignation as he bears the torture, like it's something he's been accustomed to. It bothers the lowly sailor to no end. Such submissive behaviour doesn't sit right with him. Captain Byun Baekhyun is meant to be the legendary, vicious pirate who prowls the universe in search for bounty and blood. Captain Byun Baekhyun isn't meant to just give up like that.

It's pointless to try and root for him, Minseok thinks, though a small part of him does, the part who has heard tales of the Captain's deeds and lust for adventure that he too shares. He supposes that could be the reason why he's sympathising with the enemy. It's a shame that all the stories seemed to be false. The Captain from the stories would have escaped by now, would never have taken such treatement. With a dejected shake of his head, Minseok tries to convince himself that it really doesn't matter since the Intergalactic authorities are coming over with their spaceships in tow the next morning to take the villain off their hands. Then he'll be out of sight, out of mind.

Turning on his heel once he deems the prisoner to be of no potential harm, Minseok makes to walk back over to his perch when he hears the faintest of whispers ghosting against his ears. It has his footsteps stuttering to a stop. He suddenly feels the hairs on the back of his neck standing on end as a feeling of dread wells up inside him for no reason that he can logically place. He fixes his features into a puzzled frown and turns back to the captive, whose body shakes like a leaf in a storm, veins bulging out of his neck.

"Exodus. Exodus," he mutters over and over again in a voice so low and gravelly that Minseok can't quite make out the words, though his blood still runs cold regardless. He rashly kicks his dusty boot against the pirate Captain's cage, trying to sound as intimidating as possible while he grasps to regain some aspect of control.

"What are you saying, pirate?" he yaps, attempting to shovel as much venom into each syllable as possible. It fails to hit the mark for his features are soon melding into a look of pure horror and he is shakily taking stumbling steps backwards when, without missing a beat, the captive whips his head up and bares his teeth, bares his regret on his shoulders and bares his suffering across his pained features - clear for the world to see. He is truly a sight to behold: lip torn, countless bruises blackening pale skin and eyes that are blown wide in animalistic ire.

"The Exodus is coming," the captured Captain screams, calling out for his ship like a siren calls out for her sailors, calls out for death. It pulls a terrified gasp from the young sailor's lips. Minseok's breathing turns ragged and the sweat that pools at his pores is ice cold. He takes another step back, trying to get as much distance between him and the deranged prisoner as possible.

He walks straight into a trap.

A gun clicks against his jaw, frosty metal pushing up against hard bone with bloody promise.

"Crap," the sailor curses under his breath. The pressure against his face forces him to look up at the owner of the gun who wields a similarly strong death grip around his shoulders. His assailant is the owner of soft, ethereal features and bleached blonde hair, exposed skin adorned in patterns that glow soft cerulean against porcelain. All of a sudden everything else blurs out and all he can see are doe eyes that blink down at him sweetly, easily enchanting his human soul.

The blessed child allows a smirk to stretch across pretty, pink lips. Humans were always so easy to fall for the beauty of the Veni, but for once, the ruffian himself is not faring much better.

"Aren't you a pretty little thing," he purrs, eyes scanning over the sailor's star-struck face, his smooth voice enough to distract him from the sound of another pair of footsteps that approach, heels rattling hard against concrete. Minseok has the audacity to blush.

"Luhan, we are here on a mission. Why don't you focus for now then eye your new found toy later?" A low, rumbling voice brings them both back to reality and the small sailor's world rights itself. He glances over to where the sound came from and his eyes widen to the size of saucers when he is met with a strikingly familiar figure.

"C-Captain Park?" Minseok shrieks.

The addressed doesn't seem to struggle with recognising the other male, nor does he seem particularly surprised by their meeting. Either he'd known Minseok would be here or he had more important things on his mind.

"Hello, there Minseok, nice to see you again," the ex-Captain says with a smile that chills Minseok to the bone, freezing his nerve ends. His taut sloping of his lips doesn't look anything like the toothy grins he was once used to seeing. The eyeliner smeared around bloodshot eyes and the unruly state of his blazing hair makes him seem worlds apart from the well put together, respectable man Minseok had once believed him to be.

Well put together, respectable and boring, that is. Minseok can't say he hates the new dangerous glint in the taller's eyes, almost approves of his old boss' new rugged look. The shorter male's heart gives a thump in longing for the adventure that plays in Chanyeol's aura, weaving between his mussed up, ruffled locks and streaming over the crevices of his body.

"Mind opening your vault of treasures for me? There's something very precious in there that belongs to me," Chanyeol says next, not wanting to waste another second of time. He speaks with distant eyes yet his demenour reamains commanding. Verging on impatient. His clouded gaze moves away from Minseok's to stare at the man strapped chains inside the gloomy cell.

Chanyeol thinks Baekhyun has a knack for situating himself in surroundings that act as an extension of himself. First space, now here. It makes his blood boil.

"Sorry I'm late, love," Minseok hears the red head whisper as he is unceremoniously shoved towards the cell by the beautiful man holding him at gunpoint, malignant, cold metal pressing up against his jugular. It has his eyebrows furrowing in confusion. Chanyeol looks so longing, so desperate as he stares at Baekhyun; his captor. He has a feeling he's missing vital parts of the story Lieutenant Kim and the media had been forcing down everyone's throats.

His thoughts are short-lived for a spine-tingling voice is soon rasping into his ears again. "Get the keys quickly, pretty thing, you don't want to anger him," Luhan all but cooes against his earlobe. Knees weak, Minseok is quick to unhook the keychain that dangles from the belt loops of his uniform, picking out the silver key that will set his prisoner free.

Baekhyun has been staring at Chanyeol this entire time, ever since he'd first heard his unmistakable deep baritone echoing through the dungeon. In his eyes lies a heat so fervent that Minseok swears the atmosphere around them spikes up a few degrees. It is not animosity, it is not the feelings a captor should hold towards their captive, it is something much more. Something that Minseok cannot quite place, cannot quite understand.

Chanyeol is by Minseok's side within the blink of an eye as his ex-crew member steps forward to swiftly unlock Baekhyun's cell without protest or the need for coercion. He's not sure if it's because he's aware that these pirates will blast his head off without a second thought if he so much as thinks of stepping out of line or because he wants to see what happens next.

"Can I bring him back with me, Cap?" the man holding him at gunpoint - Luhan, he now identifies him as - asks, a whining tone in his voice that brings with it hot puffs of air against Minseok's cheeks. He tries to squirm away but the small thing is surprisingly strong.

"As soon as I get what I came for. I couldn't care less what you do with him," Chanyeol growls, striding into the iron cage without another word. He's quick to go to the prisoner's side and Baekhyun can't even manage out any words as hands gentler than anything he has ever been subjected to before cause his breathing to stutter. Minseok finds he has to look away as the fiery-haired male sweeps a delicate gaze over the captive's face, eyelids fluttering in apprehension as if the force of his gaze alone could break him apart. Baekhyun doesn't dare breathe a word to him, doesn't even know what he would say. Doesn't even what would be acceptable in this sort of situation.

Chanyeol's eyes travel downwards and pause to take in the manacles clamped around his paper thin wrists and the blackening bruises that seem to transfer off the metal and filter into his skin. He once wore such chains as decoration, Chanyeol remembers, as jewellery, as a choice. But now he is forcibly entrapped in them like some horrible trick of fate. It is a good thing Baekhyun is no stranger to such trickery.

When Chanyeol speaks next, his voice is harder - more resilient - than the bars entrapping the man he has come to rescue. "Get him out of these chains, Minseok. Now."

Said man is scrambling for the small keys hidden in his pockets before he can even stop himself.

Chanyeol has never used such a gruff, commanding tone on any of his men before. But Minseok technically isn't one of his men anymore and Chanyeol technically isn't Chanyeol anymore. Not after all he's been through, not after meeting Baekhyun and getting swept away and lost in the raging storm that was the small pirate.

"You're lucky I came to save your after the way you tried to cast me aside like that," he mummers as he pulls off his jacket to drape over Baekhyun's bare chest, though he can't deny the way it breaks his heart to see him so weak, unable to do anything but breathe and flutter dark eyelashes against sheet white cheeks.

It's meant to be a joke but it cuts both of them deeper than that.

( Though his stomach flops uselessly by his side, Baekhyun's just glad to be able to hear Chanyeol's voice. )

Minseok makes quick work on unlocking the first menacing chain around Baekhyun's wrist and Chanyeol tenderly takes it into his large, calloused hands, smoothing over indents that serve as proof of the too tight restrictions that had dug into his skin. Slender fingers curl weakly into the sleeve of a white, satin shirt. The gesture forces Chanyeol to look down at him.

'You came back for me,' midnight black eyes scream at him. They are filled with questions and unsaid words that flood and drown his chest. 'Why?' they cry out. Chanyeol forces himself to look away, to pretend as if he hasn't understood, instead helping Baekhyun to shakily stagger onto his feet.

It's a question Chanyeol doesn't want to answer. Doesn't believe he should answer. Baekhyun should know the answer himself by now.

//

" you, motherers!" Kyungsoo screeches, his .22 Caliber puncturing hole after hole into each of his enemies' bodies. Captain Park had said to keep the casualties down to a minimum but at this point in time, Kyungsoo couldn't care less. He shoots without precision, aiming at anything in blue. Revenge has never tasted so sweet.

He is the only man from the Exodus here, at the main office of the naval base, but it only takes one man with a loaded weapon to take down a building full of so-called 'sailors' and 'generals' that merely spend their day sat behind desks, typing their lives away. Half of them had bullets lodged in their brains before they could even notice his presence.

A crackling in his communicator earpiece has him lowering his gun for the slightest second.

"Kyungsoo," Captain Park's low voice reverberates in his ears.

"Chanyeol," he replies without missing a beat, face stoic as he takes his cue to make quick, determined steps back out of the building, gun raised and pointed at anyone who tries to get in his way. They all cower in his presence. Offering him any sort of trouble is at the bottom of their list of priorities. "Did you get him." It's not really a question. Kyungsoo had told him not to bother coming back if he were to fail in retrieving Baekhyun and had been all prepared to turn this into a one-man mission in case Chanyeol's plan were to go to . He had split up the crew into 4 groups, had them corner in on the building from all sides so they could sneak down into the lower levels of the dungeon, had them do it quietly and sneakily instead of Kyungsoo's plan to full out wage war on the building. Then he had given Kyungsoo a separate mission that the Technician was forced to reluctantly accept because Chanyeol can be a persuasive son of a when he wants to be and none of Kyungsoo's indignant shouting of "this is my best friend, I'll be damned if I don't get him out of that cell with my own hands!" was going to sway him.

"Yes," Chanyeol's reply has him exhaling a breath he didn't know he was holding onto. He immediately picks up his pace. There is a brief pause before Chanyeol, in turn, asks, "did you get what I asked for?"

"Yes." Kyungsoo's free hand, swinging by his side as he takes quick and sure strides towards the exit, grips tightly onto the stolen file between his fingertips. The incentive for his private mission. "Are you sure about this?" The strength exerted on paper causes ragged creases to fold over the name stamped onto it, like jagged lashes rained down across the name of 'Captain J. Park.'

There's another slight hesitation before Chanyeol speaks up. "No."

//

Chanyeol's body is as warm as ever against Baekhyun's side as the latter weakly limps in time with him. The effort of even holding himself upright has him drenched in his own sweat and every step is a knife digging into his flesh, though it is really Chanyeol's arm around his waist, keeping him close to his own body, that is preventing him from collapsing.

Smokey eyes are trained on the ground, littered with the bodies of a dozen naval sailors, pools of dark crimson mixing with obnoxious royal blue. Some are alive and take in what shallow breaths they can manage, praying for the blessing of survival while others are motionless. It seems his crew mates had created a bloody walkway to freedom in order to ensure their safe getaway.

With an exhale that runs through the deepest pits of his body, Baekhyun shuts his eyes. Shuts out the death and destruction that relentlessly follows him wherever he goes to focus on something else, something that's been quietly screaming in the back of his mind, like a persistent itch that won't go away. He can feel themselves getting closer to the Exodus, no doubt parked right outside the dungeon. He can feel Her calling out to him.

Nimble fingers clutch at the front of Chanyeol's shirt. It's stained in a red that the shorter hopes doesn't belong to him. He clings onto the taller male like he is his rock, his harbour, his safety and Chanyeol can't bear to look at him without his throat closing up. Baekhyun proudly wears against his skin various shades of black and blue that serve as lasting reminders of his ordeal. They will no doubt settle into permanent scars over time, but Baekhyun holds scars that sink deeper than just skin and they both know he will survive regardless.

"I'm sorry," the broken boy breathes after a second of being engulfed in the murk behind his eyelids. Darkness. He's used to it. It's as much a comfort now as it is a curse. His voice is faint and muffled against Chanyeol's chest, but the taller hears it loud and clear. Baekhyun takes the way the taller tightens his hold on him and pulls him in a little closer as his own way of saying he's forgiven. And when Chanyeol looks down at him, eyes b with tears, windows to his soul holding a deeper meaning with words he cannot say himself but instead flood the murky oceans Chanyeol holds within him, Baekhyun understands; they tell him, 'I was worried.'

Baekhyun's hands tremble along with his lower lip as he skims his fingertips in the fresh blood that has been bothering him for a while now, caused his heart to sink and stomach to curl in on itself. He thought - he'd hoped - he'd been hallucinating and that the pool of red was just an illusion but when the cold liquid stains his flesh in violent crimson, he gets his answer. "Tell me this isn't yours." His voice cracks as he speaks, turning his head up to look at his hostage whose eyes only twinkle with faint amusement and something akin to pride.

"Not mine. The Lieutenant's," he tells him softly. He would look like a monster to anyone else, proudly wearing someone else's vital fluid across his body, but to Baekhyun he looks like a caged child set free as he entwines their fingers together, brushes his lips against the smaller's knuckles. Baekhyun doesn't have it in him pull away this time.

It takes him less than a few moments to match the name to a foul face, features twisted into a mask of villainy as he rained down lash after lash, fist after fist onto Baekhyun's body. He was a monster. But he was also a monster that Baekhyun had willingly brought into their lives. He reluctantly remembers the bar, betrayed eyes and threatening blue. And then guilt begins to eat him away.

"I'm sorry," he says again, voice getting weaker by the second. "For making you hurt people." For hurting you, goes unsaid but he hopes Chanyeol still hears it.

"For you, I would do it ten times over," the redhead says with the faintest of smiles. Baekhyun twitches his lips upwards along with him before it soon starts to slowly slip off his face, like a dawning realisation. He allows his eyes to flutter closed once more at the soft press of Chanyeol's lips against his temple. In this brief moment, he wishes for the darkness to swallow him whole as his heart thrums with dread inside his tight chest. Chanyeol doesn't do light chuckles, he does full-on guffaws and blinding beams. His lips have never been soft against Baekhyun's skin, only firm and meaningful, burning hot and utterly devouring. There's something wrong. And Baekhyun knows exactly what.

I did this, Baekhyun thinks. Whatever I touch turns to stone. And he can see it already, he can see Chanyeol beginning to harden his heart.

He has no time to dwell on what's broken for just as Baekhyun thinks he can fall asleep right here, right now and block out reality in the sweet arms of rest, a harrowing sound is rattling against Baekhyun's eardrums. It sends a sudden spike of adrenaline spilling into his blood. Before he knows it, his weak fingers are digging into the taller's arm tighter than ever, causing his companion to halt dead in his tracks and shout out exclamations of concern. Chanyeol's head whips around to stare at Baekhyun in bewilderment, a sickening crack ringing out through the stone walls at the hasty movement.

With a cry, the shorter doubles over, trembling hands flying to his temples as his head pounds in time with the decibels that screech inside his mind. It's not an after effect of exhaustion, it's not his own consciousness playing tricks on him. He thought it was Her, he thought it was the Exodus calling out to him. But he's not Kyungsoo. He doesn't have a telepathic connection to his ship. It coudn't be Her. It's someone else's voice inside his head. And it sounds so desperate, so alone.

"Baekhyun are you ok? Baekhyun what's wrong?" Chanyeol exclaims. Fear solidifies his blood and he holds onto him just as tightly, as if he were about to lose him for the second time. "Tell me what's wrong-"

"Chanyeol, I hear a voice," the raven haired man whispers because that's all he can manage, eyes screwed shut and breathing heavy, the torment tripling as the voice spreads through his weak body like roots in the soil. Chanyeol's pupils are darting around between Baekhyun who writhes and howls in agony and their surroundings. No one else is around, there is nothing but silence in the dungeon but Baekhyun looks so sure, looks so bewildered, looks so pained.

"Baekhyun, I'm sure you're being delusional. There was no one down here but you-"

It takes everything within the pirate Captain to cut off his companion as he forces out strained words past his tight throat. "It's a child."

The fiery haired male is immediately silenced at his words, lips pressing into a thin line when the other male looks up at him with such panic that it infects him, a dull thrum of fear striking his heart. "I hear it, Chanyeol. Chanyeol it's - Chanyeol she's crying."

//

They find her after Baekhyun refused to cease his hysterical babbling and Chanyeol was forced to call Luhan down with Minseok. They didn't have much more time left to get off Earth before the Navy were alerted of their presence and called for backup. Minseok had shown no sign of protest - having become oh so pliant under Luhan's charms - and led them down the other wing of the dungeon, though he himself seemed so sure that there was, "no one else down here but Baekhyun. We would never keep a child locked up, I'm sure."

After some time, Chanyeol had quickly become antsy, telling Baekhyun that they would probably not find anything and were only wasting time. His words had fallen on deaf ears.

Despite Chanyeol's protests and Minseok's adamancy, they do find her. Her cell is hidden so deeply in the darkest corners of the dungeon, Chanyeol wonders whether they'll ever remember the way they came in after all the twists and turns they had to take to get here.

She is a small, bony little thing, a baby bird trapped in a cage ten times her size, and she possesses the most beautiful golden hair any of the males have ever seen. It glimmers even in the dimness of the dungeon, glittering and entrancing all of them. But her face is covered in dirt and dust and tear tracks in the most pitiful of ways and when she speaks, her voice is just as small as her, hoarse from underuse.

"You found me," she says. Her quiet voice rings in Baekhyun's ears, amplified, and he is quick to rush to the bars of the cell, Chanyeol hot on his heels like a guard dog. Yes, this is the voice he heard. This is the one that was asking for help. This is the one who told him Chanyeol was coming for him.

"What is your name?" Chanyeol asks her once he realises Baekhyun doesn't have the strength to while Minseok searches in his pockets for a key, mumbling under his breath about how Lieutenant Kim was a monster for keeping a child as a prisoner.

She looks up at him with eyes that hold entire gleaming galaxies within them. He's entranced.

"Seulgi," she replies.

//

they save each other what else can I say? ;)

heh

p.s have some seulgi (even tho in the fic shes's meant to be 10 ish lol) 

As always thanks for reading <3 I love all your comments but I'm too awkward to answer to them so lemme just tell you thank you here <3 I love reading them and when I'm experiencing writers block or a lack of motivation to write I just read the beautiful comments and write for the next hour straight haha Please keep commenting, subscribing and upvoting kya I love you <3