Black and white mixed together in harmony.

Where there is black there is white, and where there is white there is black.

You will find the one with both there.

 

---

 

hodie | today

 

When they were young, Suho had made a promise to Cirrus. He promised her that he would always be there for her, and that she would never feel alone. The nobleman remembered the way her eyes twinkled when he made that vow, for even as a child Cirrus had felt the hardships of discipline and solitude.

 

When they entered their teen years, Suho was stationed in various islands acting as a liason between their kingdom and other towns. He rarely had the opportunity to come home. They wrote to each other often, but it wasn’t until he returned to the castle one year for Christmas that he realised far too much time had passed. Although she had buried their promise deep within the soils of childhood memories, Suho was reminded of the weight of his words. That night, under a bright moon and tender snowfall, Suho rekindled his vow to himself.

 

Now, Suho stood next to the edge of a ship, his head hung low and his eyes fixated on the waves as they pushed and pulled in rhythm. He had broken his promise, again. The nobleman recalled the night when Prince Cumulus had announced the princess’s disappearance. In a fit of hurry, Suho had pulled together a band of staff and guards that barely passed as a crew, and hopped on a boat to search for Cirrus.

 

Of course, Suho was expecting the royal family to fall to panic – what he didn’t expect was that one of them would so boldly join him on his expedition. Prince Cumulus, crown prince to the kingdom of Pileum, had no sooner jumped on the boat than him. With nothing but a sack of food, a sword at his hip, and the clothes on his back, the prince had smiled at Suho and exclaimed, “I’m coming with you!”

 

It didn’t take long for Suho to reliase that Cumulus was the only thing that kept their hope alive. It had been weeks, bordering onto months, since they started their journey. They had no knowledge of who had kidnapped the princess, nor where they might be. There were times when Suho felt like relief would only come when he announced their wild goose chase over; give himself a pat on the back and tell people “he tried”. It was the sorry way out, but at desperate times it felt like the only solution. Then, Cumulus would rekindle their morale with his optimism and determination. The prince would step atop a few barrels and give a speech to reignite their motivation. Though Cumulus had left his crown behind at the castle, his kingly aura had never been as vibrant as it was during those times.

 

The nobleman finished dwelling on the past with a sigh, and walked away from the edge of the ship. Cumulus had taken charge as captain, though he knew little on how to navigate a boat. So, the prince watched as their navigator steered the ship across the seas. Suho watched from afar, both in amusement and wonder, as Cumulus interacted with the staff on board. While some were guards, others were scholars, and some were servants of the royal palace.

 

“So, you mean to tell me that during the day we navigate by listening to the direction of the wind, and during nightfall we follow the stars as our guide?” Cumulus asked a navigator and astronomist.

 

“Yes, your highness,” the two replied in unison.

 

“Brilliant,” Cumulus said in marvel. He nodded his head slowly, as if trying to take in every word that the two staff members had told him. “Now tell me this, how do we sort out any confusion during nighttime, if the path that the wind and stars tell us are different?”

 

“Well, the wind never lies-“

 

“The stars always tell the truth-“

 

The navigator and astronomist looked at each other confusedly. “I’m telling you, good sir, that the winds have never failed me before! You should trust the experience of someone who has sailed for over 10 years,” the navigator barked.

 

“Well, science is the key to everything, my good friend. As someone who’s devoted their life to studying the cosmos, and written several theses on the topic, I think you should listen to my opinion a bit more before making your own statement,” the proud astronomist argued back.

 

“Your highness!” the two shouted in unison. “What are your thoughts on the matter?”

 

“Oh, um well,” Cumulus stuttered. “You know, I deal with politics and swordsmanship and whatnot. I was never really good at weather-reading or analyzing the stars…”

 

From the corner of his eye, the prince spotted Suho. “Oh! I forgot I have an appointment with my good friend Suho today. Gentleman, I trust you’ll be able to settle this amongst yourselves?” he asked. The two nodded reluctantly, both wanting to declare to the prince that they were right, but bit their tongues back.

 

Cumulus slid away from the two and jogged towards Suho. With a sigh of relief, he placed a hand on Suho’s shoulder and beamed at the other. “You came right in the nick of time.”

 

Suho wiggled free from the prince’s grasp and chuckled. “We’re all on deck, your highness. I was in no different position than I was this morning.”

 

Cumulus laughed; a sound so melodic and familiar. Many people would tell you that the prince and princess were two very different people, both in nature and appearance. Suho disagreed. When the two of them smiled, the ends of their mouths stretched upwards in the exact same fashion. Their eyes, despite his being blue and hers brown, seemed to twinkle all the same.

 

“True,” the prince agreed. “But you weren’t staring at the ocean for hours yesterday. Is something on your mind?”

 

Suho breathed in and exhaled slowly. He pursed his lips together briefly, then relaxed them. “It’s just… how do you manage to do this? All of this?”

 

“All of what?” asked a baffled Cumulus.

 

“Lead a crew, and pull them out of despair and boost everyone’s morale and–“ Suho said all too quickly. Then, catching his breath the nobleman spoke in a calmer manner. “I mean, you know as little as we do about Cirrus’s whereabouts, yet you’ve never once lost hope.”

 

Cumulus stayed silent for a few moments, his fingers grazing his mouth and his gaze lost in thought. Finally, the prince broke the stillness. “You make it sound as if hope is an object, Suho.”

 

Suho gave Cumulus a puzzled look. “Well, if we’re to be technical, isn’t it? The term ‘hope’ is a noun after all.”

 

“But it’s not,” Cumulus replied wittily. “Hope is a feeling, and feelings are never forgotten nor lost, even if you can’t remember them.” Then in a much more serious tone, he added, “Hope is always there. Sometimes we’re just blinded by other emotions that it seems like it’s disappeared. I’m just pointing everyone in the direction where we buried it, is all.”

 

“For someone who doesn’t know whether to follow the wind or stars at night, you make navigating to find ‘hope’ sound like a piece of cake,” Suho said with an upturn of his lips. “Maybe it’s a royal thing.”

 

“You think?” Cumulus wondered aloud. “I just hope Cirrus hasn’t buried her ‘hope’ too deep…but my little sister can be stubborn at times. Knowing her, I’m sure she won’t lose sight of hope so soon.”

 

“She’s struggled through a lot,” Suho murmured to himself as snapshots of their childhood wizzed through his mind. Despite being royalty, she had had little access to anything enriching in life. Cirrus had been plagued with lectures and forced to remain at the sidelines her entire life. Suho wasn’t sure how many people knew of this exactly, but he could never forget her sobs when King Solis first told her of her duties, and the repercusions that would follow if she failed to live to standards; the weight of shame, and the destiny of remaining in the castle forever with the same authorative power as that of a palace maid.

 

There were a few things Suho could learn from the prince and princess, he realised. From Cumulus, the ability to not lose sight of hope. From Cirrus, the willpower to struggle through and withstand any obstacle.

 

Suho looked around the ship. Perhaps it was because the sun was shining so brightly today, or perhaps it was because his vision was no longer clouded by uncertainties and ‘lost hope’. Suho’s spirits felt lifted, and the nobleman was sure everyone on the crew felt the same way as of late. ‘Tomorrow’ was uncontrollable, Suho told himself, but ‘today’ wasn’t. Today, they would stand tall. Today, they would fight.

 

.::.            .::.            .::.

 

They were surrounded by the thickest fog she’d ever experienced. Cirrus’s heart pounded loudly against her chest. The princess could barely see five feet in front of her, let alone anything in front of their ship. She roamed the deck, grabbing hold of ropes and wooden crates to guide her.

 

“Beautiful weather isn’t it, love?” Ardent said sarcastically. The first mate appeared beside her and offered an arm for her to grab onto. Cirrus eyed him momentarily before letting go of the rope she had been gripping on to, and took hold of Ardent’s arm.

 

“How are we even navigating in this kind of condition? Isn’t it unsafe? What if we hit something?” Cirrus said all too quickly.

 

Ardent let out a hearty laugh. “Princess, where do you think we are right now?”

 

“The ocean.”

 

“What’s there to bump into, then?” he winked.

 

“Well, rocks and… glaciers and whatnot,” Cirrus replied meekly.

 

“Unless we’re in a gorge like we were when we met that annoying fish man, I’d say we’re clear of rocks. And we’re definitely not up north, so there aren’t any glaciers to worry about. It’s pretty smooth sailing, I’d say,” Ardent replied confidently. Upon looking at the distressed expression on Cirrus’s face, his nonchalant behaviour disappeared. Taking a more serious tone, he continued, “What’s wrong, love?”

 

“I wonder how Luhan is doing,” Cirrus replied with a sigh. “I hope he’s okay…”

 

“If that merman’s stayed alive for as long as he has, given how idiotic he can be at times, I’m sure he’s fine right now. He’s probably searching the ocean floor for pretty shells, or counting how many scales are on his tail or something,” said Ardent. He chuckled amusedly at the thought of Luhan concentrating on the individual scales of his tail.

 

“You’re right,” Cirrus laughed.

 

“Besides, if you really missed him, you could always use that necklace he gave you,” Ardent said as he pointed at the pearl strung around Cirrus’s neck. The strawberry blonde pearl had been manifested from the merman’s energy, which explained why it so closely resembled Luhan’s hair colour. “Didn’t he say you just had to drop it into the ocean or something?”

 

Cirrus clutched the pearl with her hand. The surface was smooth and free of imperfections. “Yeah, but I don’t want to use it just yet. I have a feeling we’ll need it someday in the future, and that should be when we use it.”

 

“What are we going to need to call that merman for?” Ardent scoffed. “Having him around probably increases our chances of sinking.”

 

“What do you have against Luhan?” Cirrus asked with smile that was just shy of a smirk.

 

“Need I remind you that his singing almost caused our demise? Or the fact that he always threw water on me?” Ardent shuddered at the thought. “And I will never forget how he grew a pair of legs and ran around the deck .”

 

Cirrus giggled and nodded her head as she recalled the fond memories. Having heard the spontaneous bursts of laughter from the other side of the ship’s deck, Baekhyun made his way towards the source. When the captain caught sight of the pair – more specifically, her arm entwined with Ardent’s – he raised a brow in suspicion. Why he felt the need to be suspicious of the action, Baekhyun wasn’t sure.

 

When Ardent noticed Baekhyun, he stopped recounting stories of Luhan and cleared his throat. “Baek, lovely weather we’re having today, huh?”

 

Baekhyun breathed a “Yes, wonderful” in response, but didn’t turn his eyes away from the pair’s arms. The three stood in silence for a few moments before the captain shot his head up to look Ardent straight in the eyes. He smiled, though there was nothing warm about it. The upturn of his lips was more of a polite gesture than anything else.

 

“Ardent, I think Niteo was looking for you,” Baekhyun said.

 

“Oh really?” Ardent asked calmly. He removed his arm from Cirrus’ gentle hold and gave Baekhyun an amused look. “I’ll go see him now then.”

 

As the blond pirate walked past Baekhyun, he paused briefly and whispered under his breath, “No need to get to prickly, Baek. Green doesn’t suit you.”

 

The captain rolled his eyes and replied in an even quieter voice, “Don’t try me, smartass. “

 

Ardent walked away from them, all the while chuckling to himself. His figure disappeared into the thick fog, leaving Cirrus alone with the seemingly irritated captain. With a conscious effort to be cautious with her words, the princess asked calmly, “Are you comfortable sailing in the fog?”

 

Baekhyun closed the distance between them, and instantly he was standing next to her. He lowered his head and replied, “Although this isn’t quite Shakespeare, there is such a saying, Cirrus. ‘The show must go on.’ What better quote to describe a pirate’s life?”

 

“Truly,” she answered. “Any idea when we’ll reach that friend of yours?”

 

“The fog means that we’re close,” Baekhyun said with a shrug of his shoulders. He was twirling something in his hand – a key, Cirrus realised. One that she recognized all too well. It was the key to her room. The princess gulped silently. Why was Baekhyun flaunting her room’s key in front of her?

 

“We should get to Island 68 by tomorrow morning.” Baekhyun’s voice snapped Cirrus out of her thoughts. He was still twirling that key around, and it was starting to make Cirrus feel uncomfortable.

 

Finally, she decided to ask Baekhyun about it. “Baekhyun, that key…”

 

Before she could finish her question, Baekhyun stopped fiddling with the key and firmly gripped his fingers around the metal object. He looked up and locked eyes with Cirrus. His eyes seemed blacker than night sometimes, and other times they were clouded by a fog thicker than the one they were currently in.

 

“How serious are you?” Baekhyun finally asked.

 

His question took her by surprise. What did he mean by that? Trying to muster an answer of some sort, Cirrus started with a stammer, “Well, um – I…”

 

No.

 

There shouldn’t be any hesitation, Cirrus told herself. What was there to be uncertain about now? She vowed that she would start living, and not simply surviving. She trusted the Lux Pirates, and she told herself that she would help them. In truth, Cirrus had known the answer to Baekhyun’s question for a long time now. She simply didn’t admit it to herself until recently.

 

Taking a breath, Cirrus collected her thoughts. After a moment of rest, she returned Baekhyun’s intense look with a fiery gaze of her own. “I’m serious, Baekhyun. I’m ready.”

 

“Good,” Baekhyun smirked in satisfaction. “I’m serious too.”

 

He pulled his arm back and threw the key into the ocean. It quickly disappeared into the fog, but it wasn’t until she heard the ‘plop’ the key made when it met the water that she realised the extent of his action. “Baekhyun,” she gasped.

 

“I figured we didn’t need a key now that we keep your door unlocked. The other copies have been disposed of already,” he said.

 

She wasn’t quite sure what she was supposed to say. A part of her wanted to question the pirate captain’s intentions. Did this mean that he accepted her, just as she had accepted him? Choosing not to pry too deeply into the matter, she softened her expression and said, “Thank you.”

 

Baekhyun cleared his throat and shifted his body away from her. “The navigation path has already been set. You should return to your quarters.”

 

“You’re right,” Cirrus agreed. She placed her hand atop a stack of crates with the intention of using them to guide her way through the fog. But before she managed to take two steps, Baekhyun stopped her and extended an arm to her.

 

“You’re not used to these conditions. I’ll show you the way back,” he said.

 

Although surprised by his act of generosity, Cirrus took his arm without a second of hesitation. She slipped her arm around his, and they walked slowly towards the cabins.

 

“You’re awfully generous today,” she mused.

 

He snorted and didn’t even bother glancing her way. “It’s almost pitiful seeing you take baby steps around like a blind person.”

 

“Is that so,” she chuckled.

 

“No need to get to prickly, Baek. Green doesn’t suit you.” Ardent’s voice echoed in the captain’s mind.

 

Green with envy, Baekhyun thought to himself. He commended Ardent for the clever comment, but he didn’t acknowledge it. Baekhyun knew what envy was, in fact he had been a victim to it on more than one occasion. But this wasn’t envy. There was nothing to be jealous of, and yet the prickling feeling in his chest told him otherwise.

 

Ridiculous, he told himself.

 

“I hope you’re ready to start training,” Baekhyun said to Cirrus. He hoped that some conversation would rid him of his (what he called ‘preposterous’) thoughts.

 

“Well, if you learned from him then I’m looking forward to it,” she replied with confidence.

 

“Actually, I learned from his grandfather,” Baekhyun corrected her. “But the old man’s passed on now. The grandson should be just as good, though. Difficult to work with, but very skilled.”

 

“Oh,” she said, almost in disappointment. Cirrus had hoped to be able to learn from Baekhyun’s teacher. It was a silly idea, but she thought that by sharing a teacher she would be able to understand the pirate captain just a little bit better.

 

“You’ll have to prepare yourself to deal with… him,” Baekhyun warned.

 

“I’ll be able to handle it. This is what I wanted anyway. It was my request.”

 

“And you’ll have to prepare yourself to fight,” he added in a slightly softer voice.

 

“Yes,” she replied confidently.

 

The Lux Pirates had been fighting for a long time. And she knew they would continue to fight. Perhaps all the fighting was the reason behind Baekhyun’s dark eyes. Though she knew little of his past, Cirrus was certain his history was scribed with fighting. He still fought on a daily basis, too. No doubt his future called for fighting as well.

 

She never had a reason to fight before. But now Cirrus found something she finally wanted to fight for – herself. She wanted to stand tall and strong on her own two feet. She wanted to protect others, and not just be protected.

 

Tomorrow, she would fight.

 

---

 

A/N: Ya'll wanted Suho, there's your Suho for ya. How do you guys feel about Suho's character? Do you think he's changed much? His determination is wavering, for sure. There wasn't too much action in this chapter, but it'll start picking up soon.

Also, your girl is done exams!!! I'm starting an internship on Monday though boohoo :'( Hopefully I'll be able to get some writing done. Speaking of writing (shameless advertising here), I've really been inspired for my other fic, Spirit Me Away, so if you haven't checked that out yet, you might enjoy it!

\\ xoxo