X Marks the Spot
Description
Just when Song Hei thinks that things have finally begun settling down, Jinqiong, her half-sister, now apparently a wanted convict, turns up at her front door with Kim Jongdae in tow. She claims to have stolen a jewel that has, firstly, set the remaining four families after her. Secondly, there’s someone else chasing her down for it: someone much more dangerous than the former, someone who also wants the jewel for its ability to break any curse and won’t stop until he’s gotten the jewel and taken both Jinqiong and Jongdae’s lives.
There’s a couple of problems: Jinqiong can’t get rid of the jewel without using it or being killed (and she has the annoying habit of drinking her problems away every time she encounters one, which is frequent), she’s holding Kim Jongdae as ransom for their help (and he has something he wants himself from the jewel), the man after them is basically unstoppable, half-monster, and they don’t stand much of a chance against him if they can’t figure out how to use the jewel against him.
With no other choice, Baekhyun reassembles the crew and they head towards Hell’s Gate again, hoping to both rid Jinqiong of the jewel and, at the same time, free Taeyong from his eleven hundred year old curse for his help.
Foreword
Taeyong remembered searching about curses.
It wasn’t something he’d put much effort into, but he had tried to cover everything before facing his father, and for a brief while, he had attempted to figure out how curses worked. Most of it was magic, spells, and more that he didn’t understand. Magic had never been his forte, anyway. It was just another thing his power managed to break through.
There had been a story once, though, about a jewel that could break any curse. No one knew about its whereabouts, no one knew if it were even real, and no one particularly cared about it anymore. Another story. Another mystery. And as long as it didn’t concern him, it could stay that way.
He blinked at the opposite wall. The whole house was cleared of the havoc he had wreaked on it the day before, another day where it had become all too dreary, that the loneliness had crept up, begging to be let out in some way or another.
He sighed. Not that it satisfied much. Reaching for the pen on the table, he flipped through the notebook on the table, the one thing that didn’t reset itself each night, and drew another tally mark for another day.
________
Technically, this works as a standalone, though if you haven't read Cutlass, I don't think BaekHei will be as meaningful, but the plot should still make sense. And yes, it's still a pirate!AU :)
If you'd like to check out the first book of this series, click on the poster below to be redirected to Cutlass:
A couple of notes:
>Technically, this can be read as a standalone, but a couple of things might not make sense. However, the plot can more or less make sense even if you haven’t read Cutlass.
>From Hei’s POV, Jinqiong’s POV, and a little of Taeyong’s.
>This will be (hopefully) more action based than romance.
>I’m really, really hoping that it’ll be under 30 chapters. But... at this rate, probably 45.
>If you’re looking for the Taeyong/Lee family mystery too, XMTS has more of it than Cutlass :)
>Yes, there will be romance and fluff, and it'll be Baekhyun and Hei (who are married in the sequel now!) and two other characters. Take your guess :)
>My name is Emily—please don't call me authornim.
>Don't ask for updates. I have a very clear updating schedule, which is on Sundays either biweekly or weekly, and asking for updates is only going to irritate me, not make me update faster.
>The more comments, the more motivation. I'm not going to withhold chapters if I don't get a set amount of comments like some authors do, but I'm currently sticking to a biweekly update schedule because I can't write nearly as fast to produce chapters weekly, but comments do prompt me to write and are, in ways, motivation. So yes, the more chapters, possibly the more updates. I reply to every single comment, even if they take me a while, and I genuinely enjoy interacting with everyone!
>If you'd like to chat more with me, here's my twitter, where I post story snippets, updates, etc: twitter
>I also have a curious cat, where you can as anonymous questions if you don't feel comfortable commenting/asking here: curious cat
Here's the map of the Cutlass/XMTS universe by the lovely Kjerena :) You can have a better sense of where things are with this, yay!
See you all once every two weeks! Hopefully you'll enjoy this as much as Cutlass!
Posters (click the image to be redirected to designer's profile):
If you're interested, here are some of my other fics!
Cutlass—Baekhyun x OC, pirate!au, fantasy, adventure, action, romance, angst. completed.
X Marks the Spot—Baekhyun x OC, Jongdae x OC, pirate!au, fantasy, adventure, action, romance, angst, sequel to Cutlass. ongoing.
Prodigy—Baekhyun x OC, pirate!au, fantasy, angst, action, romance, coming of age, prequel to Cutlass. ongoing.
Darkest Hour—Baekhyun x OC, fantasy, action, adventure, romance. completed.
Windwalker—Kyungsoo x OC, prince!au, assassin!au, fantasy, adventure, action, romance. ongoing.
Touch of Hades—Jongdae x OC, assassin!au, fantasy, action, romance, angst. ongoing.
Prometheus—Kai x OC, fantasy, action, adventure, romance. ongoing.
Black Thunder—Jongdae x OC, mafia!au, fantasy, romance, action, angst. ongoing.
Every Frayed Edge—Jongdae x OC, highschool!au, slice of life, healing, coming of age, romance, angst. ongoing.
Fire to Ash—Chanyeol x OC, king!au, royalty!au, fantasy, action, romance, angst. completed.
Crescendo—Baekhyun x OC, college!au, musician!au, healing, slice of life, hurt and comfort, romance, angst. completed.
On Angel's Wings—Baekhyun x OC, angel!au, romance, angst, healing. completed.
The Fourth Sin—Baekhyun x OC, pandora!au, fantasy, romance, action, angst, adventure. ongoing.
Sea of Flames—Baekhyun x OC, romance, fantasy, slice of life. completed, one shot.
Fearless—Baekhyun x OC, slice of life, romance, school life, healing, angst. completed.
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