Meet your doom around the gorge, be saved through it.

Rests there several lyrics, do not pay them heed.

Be wary of the enchantment, capture the talk and find the rock.

 

---

 

petram | rock

 

 

Luhan greeted the waters with open arms and a wide smile on his face. He indulged in the cold water, letting the sensation bring tingles to his skin. A soft aqua-coloured aura enveloped his legs and covered them completely. The colour of the aura darkened and Luhan’s legs were replaced by a teal fishtail. The merman whipped his tail around in the water. This was where he belonged; where he could truly breathe.

 

As soon as Luhan had jumped off-board, Baekhyun ran after the merman. He stopped when he reached the edge of the ship, and poked his head outwards to look for him. He tried to make sense of what Luhan had told him just before he dove into the water.

 

“That’s what happens when girls are kissed.”

 

It all made sense to him now. The constant shade of red in her cheeks, and her questionable behaviour as of late. There could only be one reason why Cirrus averted her gaze whenever he glanced at her.

 

“Luhan! Get your back here and tell me what kind of disease you passed onto her!” Baekhyun shouted from the deck.

 

So she is sick! She’s sick and they didn’t want me to find out, Baekhyun concluded. The captain was confident that Luhan carried some sort of illness with him, which he then passed onto Cirrus when he kissed her cheek. Given the merman’s obvious infatuation with her, it wouldn’t be farfetched to assume that he had tried kissing the princess while they were alone in her room.

 

“What? You want me to come back up?” Luhan shouted from the water, not having fully heard everything the pirate captain had said.

 

“Actually on second thought, no,” Baekhyun growled.

 

Luhan pouted and furrowed his eyebrows together. He didn’t like the tone the captain was using with him, and was oh so close to just ditching them in the middle of the wind-less and wave-less gorge. He decided against the idea however, because that would mean he’d be turning his back on Cirrus.

 

“We had a deal, merman,” Baekhyun announced. “You spent a day with the princess, now bring my ship out of this gorge.”

 

Luhan sighed and did as he was told. He closed his eyes and concentrated on the water around him. His body remained perfectly still for what seemed like minutes, then he took a deep breath of air. His chest expanded to a great size, and he held the breath for a few moments before he slowly blew it out. As he exhaled, the water around him began stirring.

 

Waves started forming, and they pushed against the ship. The ship rocked underneath the moving waters, causing the ship to slowly move forward. The ship picked up speed as the waves became stronger, and they were fast approaching the part of the gorge that split into 3 different paths.

 

Ardent took hold of the wheel, and steered them away from any rocks in their path. As they neared the divergence, the rocky walls surrounding them seemed to get closer together. A bead of sweat slid down the first mate’s temple as he directed all his focus into maintaining a collision-free path.

 

“Baekhyun! Which way do we go?” Ardent shouted.

 

“Go straight through the middle!” Baekhyun responded. The captain ran to the head of the ship and grabbed hold of a nearby pillar to keep his balance. Using his other free hand, he brought it over his forehead to shield his eyes from the Sun so he could get a better view of what they were heading towards.

 

“Aye, sir!” Ardent exclaimed. He held the steering wheel firmly in his hands and his lips as he steadily maneuvered the ship through the middle path. As they entered the middle path, the wind started picking up. Meanwhile, the remainder of the crew scrambled into position and did their part to make sure they kept a smooth course.

 

Cirrus felt incredibly lost in the moment. She had no idea what she was supposed to be doing, or if she was expected to do anything at all.

 

“Catch this and pull!” one of the crewmembers shouted to Cirrus. The man was of average stature, and looked around Ardent’s age. His shaggy, curly hair was the same shade of dark brown as hers, except his had auburn highlights. Even from a distance, Cirrus caught a glimpse of his bright, green eyes.

 

The pirate threw a rope in Cirrus’s direction, and she fumbled with the thing before she finally got a good grip on it.

 

“Pull!” he told her.

 

Without thinking twice, Cirrus pulled the rope as hard as she could. She watched in awe as a small sail dropped and caught some wind. The ship’s speed quickened slightly, which made Cirrus grip onto the rope harder than before. For some reason, the trivial experience gave her a sense of exhilaration that sent her pulse racing.

 

“Good pulling, princess,” the crewmember whistled at her. He approached her in long strides, and stopped about a metre away from her.

 

“Wha- I, did I just do that? I m-mean,” Cirrus stuttered. “What?”

 

The pirate laughed and flashed her a charming smile that made Cirrus think, I thought pirates were supposed to be burly, hairy and untidy. Why is everyone on this ship the exact opposite of that?

 

“Don’t believe I’ve introduced myself to the princess yet. I’m-“ he started but was cut off by Ardent’s yelling.

 

The blond pirate hollered at the pair while still at the steering wheel, “Niteo! Not really the time to be flirting, you know! We’re kind of in a life-or-death situation!”

 

“Well, there you go,” he said with another smile. Then, with he a wink he added, “The name’s Niteo.”

 

“Niteo!” Ardent yelled at the pirate.

 

Niteo flinched and feigned a look of fear. “Someone’s feisty today,” he muttered under his breath. “See you later, princess!” He bid Cirrus farewell and ran towards the other end of the ship, where he and a group of crewmates worked on untying and retying a series of ropes that were connected to the masts.

 

Baekhyun smiled and his eyes glistened when he spotted the end of the gorge. The ship slowly exited the rocky abyss, and the crew found themselves in the waters of the open ocean. Luhan emerged from the water, and shook his head to rid it of water. Cirrus ran towards the edge of the ship and poked her head out to see him.

 

“How did you know to go through the middle?” asked a rather stunned Luhan. “I was going to manipulate the waves to force you through the middle, but it looks like I didn’t have to, since you already knew.”

 

“Baekhyun announced it,” Cirrus replied.

 

As if on cue, Baekhyun made his appearance next to the princess. He smirked at the merman and recited the first riddle from memory, “Meet your doom around the gorge, be saved through it. Rests there several lyrics, do not pay them heed. Be wary of the enchantment, capture the talk and find the rock.”

 

He then continued, “The riddle stated we should go through the gorge no matter what. Taking the right or left path would essentially be going around the gorge, if you think about it.”

 

“But what about the rock?” Cirrus pointed out.

 

“Rock?” Luhan echoed the only word he had picked up from the conversation between Cirrus and the captain. “I know a rock! Oh, I love to sing on that wonderful rock!”

 

“No one asked you,” Baekhyun snapped at the merman.

 

Luhan gawked at Baekhyun, then huffed a breath of air. “Fine, don’t listen to me talk about the rock with the weird characters on it then.”

 

“Characters?” Cirrus’s ears perked up at the mention of the word. “What kind of language is it written in?”

 

Baekhyun scowled as he turned to look at Luhan, who was wearing a smug look of triumph on his face. Perhaps he had been too hasty in trying to silence the merman and he hoped his little slip up wouldn’t cost him a valuable lead to the lost treasure.

 

“Probably Coelum,” Luhan replied. He scanned the vicinity and pointed towards a small rock in the distance. “It’s that one!”

 

Luhan leaped into the air before diving into the water. His bright teal tail made him an easy target to follow, and the ship trailed behind him until they arrived at a rock twice the size of the merman. Luhan hopped onto the rock and caressed it gently.

 

Cirrus stood on her tippy toes and bent forward as far as she could, but she couldn’t make out the tiny characters that Luhan told them about. The merman looked up at the crew and pointed a finger to the side of the rock. “The characters are etched on this side!” he exclaimed. “You’re going to have to send someone down!”

 

“I’ll go,” Baekhyun announced swiftly. He hopped onto the edge of the ship and tightrope walked his way over to the ship’s anchor. He used his right foot to step down on a lever on the interior of the ship, then he hopped onto the anchor. He smoothly descended, and just before he hit the water he jumped off the anchor and onto the rock. He landed gracefully on it, and shimmied his way over to the area that carried the code.

 

Baekhyun bent down and squinted his eyes at the characters. Even though he was not literate in Coelum, he recognized some of the characters from having examined the treasure map endless times. He fished out a small notebook and pencil from his pocket, and scribbled down the message.

 

As he was copying the code, he didn’t bother glancing at Luhan but said to him, “What kind of diseases do you carry?”

 

Luhan looked at him with surprise, and he immediately replied with, “None. I’m perfectly healthy. Why do you ask? Is it because my tail looks more green than teal? It does that sometimes, and it’s not a health issue, trust me. It’s really just an indication that I’ve been eating too much seaweed, but how could one not? I mean, I don’t have to eat, but seaweed is an absolute delightful snack. It’s extremely delicious and much tastier than bread and cheese.”

 

“Do you always ramble?” asked an unamused Baekhyun.

 

“Well you’re the one who asked,” Luhan pouted. The merman moved his tail and up and down, letting his scales bask in the sunlight. He loved coming to this rock because it was large enough for his entire body to fit on top of it, which allowed him to admire the reflective properties of his fish scales.

 

“I only asked because your little shenanigan is going to cost me greatly,” Baekhyun said with a hint of malice in his tone.

 

“What are you talking about?” asked a very confused Luhan.

 

“The princess is sick, thanks to you now. Lord knows what kind of hundred-year germs you’re carrying with you, and you just had to go and transmit them to her! Now I’m forced under a time limit to find this treasure because I have no idea how long she’ll live,” Baekhyun spat.

 

When Luhan didn’t say anything, Baekhyun snapped, “Say something, will you? If you at least let me know what she might be infected with, I can try to get her an antidote or something.”

 

“What in the world are you going on about?” Luhan shouted.

 

“When you kissed her cheek just now, her cheeks were red, just as they have been the past couple of days! Her face is most likely flushed because of fever,” Baekhyun exclaimed.

 

Luhan scrunched his face up in confusion and stared at the pirate captain. “I can’t believe this.”

 

“Excuse me?” Baekhyun scoffed.

 

“For an intelligent man you’re not very bight,” Luhan shook his head and sighed. While still tilting his head towards the water, the merman shifted his eyes upward to look at Baekhyun. Then, he continued, “That’s not the reason why her cheeks were red.”

 

“Then why?”

 

“She was blushing! Dear Lord, must I spell this out for you?” Luhan shouted at the top of his lungs.

 

“That’s an invalid reason,” Baekhyun snorted and continued copying the message down. “Fine, so she may have blushed out of embarrassment when you kissed her, but that doesn’t explain her flushed visage before that.”

 

“It does make sense!” exclaimed a baffled Luhan.

 

“How so?” Baekhyun asked just as he finished copying down the last character of the code.

 

“Because you kissed her too!” Luhan yelled.

 

Baekhyun pressed his pencil against the paper in his notebook with a bit too much force, causing its tip to break. His left eye twitched, and initially what started as a low rumble in his throat escalated into hysterical laughter. “What?” he laughed. “I did not.”

 

“Uh, yes you did,” Luhan nodded his head and replied slowly. Baekhyun tightened his grip on the pencil and snapped it in half. The pirate captain disliked the condescending tone he was currently receiving, but he despised the lies coming out of the merman’s mouth even more.

 

Before Baekhyun could utter a sound in protest, Luhan continued, “I saw you two. Probably happened when you were enchanted by my voice.”

 

Baekhyun had heard enough. He stood up and walked over to the anchor. He grabbed hold of the chain, and called for his crew to hoist him up. As he slowly ascended, Luhan yelled after him, “Cirrus isn’t ill! She’s only acting that way because she’s embarrassed! Which is kinda cute if you ask me.”

 

“Well, no one asked you,” Baekhyun spat with heavy sarcasm. He refused to believe Luhan because if that were truly the case, wouldn’t he remember it? The captain had a sharp memory, and the fact that he couldn’t recall the incident was reason enough for him to believe it never happened.

 

When Baekhyun reached the deck, he waltzed over to Cirrus and looked her in the eye. She immediately looked away, both out of fear and embarrassment, and directed her gaze at the ground. It annoyed him greatly that she wasn’t facing him. Her behaviour clearly indicated that something had happened, but he was still in denial.

 

“Are you healthy? No illnesses?” he asked her in a stern voice that caused her to flinch slightly.

 

“Yes,” she replied in a mumble.

 

“Good,” he said, though his tone indicated he was anything but thrilled at her response. Baekhyun walked past her, but not before slipping in, “Report to my room in half an hour.”

 

Cirrus held her breath as he brushed past her. He headed towards quarters, leaving her behind with the rest of the crew. When Baekhyun exited the deck, she exhaled and instinctively brought a hand over her chest. When he had spoken to her, his eyes seemed cold, dark and filled with what she thought was annoyance. She had no idea why his mood had suddenly turned sour, and felt fear rising within her when she thought about how he wanted her to stop by his room.

 

It’s probably just to translate the code he copied, she repeated the thought in her head to reassure herself.

 

“Cirrus!”

 

The princess’s ears perked up at Luhan’s voice. She walked over to the edge of the ship and looked over to meet his gaze. He shone her a warm smile and waved his arm in the air. Then, he cupped the sides of his mouth with his hands and yelled, “My job here is done. I suppose this is where we say goodbye.”

 

She tried to hide the pang of sadness in her chest, but her solemn eyes expressed it all. When she thought about how she might never see him again, Cirrus tightened her grip on the pearl necklace he gave her. She knew he would want to see her happy, so the princess forced a smile and yelled back, “I’ll never forget you, Luhan!”

 

“Why are you talking as if we’ll never see each other again?” he smiled cheekily at her. “You’ll always have a part of me wherever you go!”

 

“Yes,” she said through a quiet sniffle. Then in a louder voice she told him, “Take care of yourself, Luhan!”

 

“I’ve lived a hundred years, and I’ll live a hundred more,” he chuckled. “I should be telling you that, Cirrus! Stay healthy, and should you ever want to see me again, you know what to do. Goodbye!”

 

Luhan gazed up at her one last time before he dove into the water. Cirrus tracked his teal-coloured tail, which was heading back towards the gorge. When she could no longer differentiate the colour of his tail from the sea, she spoke in a quiet voice, “Goodbye, my friend.”

 

.::.            .::.            .::.

 

As per his request, Cirrus found herself standing outside Baekhyun’s door. She lightly knocked against the wood, praying that he wouldn’t hear so it could give her the excuse to retreat to her room. She heard shuffling on the other side, and when he opened the door she found herself staring right into his eyes.

 

His black eyes always seemed to be filled with a fiery passion that both intrigued and scared her. She wasn’t used to seeing such eyes in the palace, and didn’t quite know how to face them.

 

“Come inside,” he told her.

 

She followed him into his room and took a seat in the chair opposite to his. He was sitting with his elbows propped up against his desk, and his chin was resting in between his interlocked fingers. She shifted in her seat while he continued to stare at her.

 

Where was she supposed to look? At the ceiling? At the bookshelf? At him?

 

“The merman told me something funny,” he chuckled amusedly. His tone however, indicated that he found it anything but funny.

 

“What did he tell you?” she asked him carefully.

 

He shook his head and continued chuckling. “You won’t believe it.”

 

“What won’t I believe?” she asked.

 

“He told me that the reason why your face has been red lately was because you and I kissed,” he laughed.

 

Cirrus gulped and bit her lip. She desperately wanted to live in ignorance like Baekhyun, because she too wished it had never happened. Then, she had a sudden realization: if she didn’t tell him about it, he would never know. In that way, at least she could act like it never happened. So, she took a breath of air and said to him, “Preposterous.”

 

“That’s what I said!” Baekhyun exclaimed. “At first I thought you were sick, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. So then, what is the reason behind your strange behaviour as of late?”

 

“It’s probably because his voice had some enchanting effects. A siren doesn’t have to sing to put others in a trance. I guess I was under some of the effects,” she told him. Cirrus wasn’t lying; Luhan’s voice often soothed her, and there were also times where her heart felt vulnerable around him.

 

“That makes perfect sense, actually,” Baekhyun nodded and said to himself. His dark eyes sparkled as the logic settled in, and his lips curled into a subtle grin. Then, he leaned against the seat of his chair and brought his arms behind his head. He thought about what Cirrus had said, and convinced himself that nothing else aside from her explanation could have happened.

 

Baekhyun dug into his pocket and pulled out a small notebook which he threw onto the desk in front of Cirrus. He cocked his head towards the book, and prompted her to open it. She flipped through the pages, which were mostly blank, until she reached the page that had the code on it. She studied the verse, then spoke the translation, “Head due South, stopping at the third island in sight.”

 

“Third island from here? Huh, interesting,” he hummed. “Alright then, time to inform the crew.” He stood up and headed for the door, with Cirrus tailing him.

 

Baekhyun stepped out onto the deck, where his crew was in the midst of playing a game of cards. Some would have considered it a weird sight; seeing 14 adult men huddled around a couple of tiny crates sharing three mixed decks of cards. To Baekhyun however, it was an everyday occurrence. The captain cleared his throat, and everyone’s eyes shifted towards him.

 

They must really respect him, Cirrus thought to herself.

 

“Men, we’re heading South! We have to really watch our surroundings, because we’re stopping at the third island in sight,” he announced.

 

“Third island from here?” Ardent wondered aloud. “Is that where I think it is?”

 

Niteo, who was sitting next to the blond pirate, nodded his head eagerly and chimed, “It’s Dolum.”

 

“Dolum?” Cirrus let the foreign word roll off her tongue.

 

“My hometown,” answered Niteo.

 

---

 

A/N: Enter Niteo! I’d like to think of myself as rather clever with the naming of these characters. Lux (as in Baekhyun Lux) means light, Ardent means gleam, and Niteo means shine. They’re all related to Baekhyun’s power :P This also marks the end of Luhan's arc, and he may or may not show up in the future :^)

 

Anyway, to clear up Baek's dumb dumb-ness, basically he thought it too preposterous for Cirrus to be flustered/blushing because of him because he has no recollection of the kiss -- so he thought of every other possible explanation... including her being sick lmfao #sorrynotsorry

 

Pun of the update: ty nakatayouko

What a terrible thing it is to Lu's someone you love to the one thing you can never change or be without.

 

\\ xoxo