oo9

Old Enemies, Old Friends

The one thing Jinqiong felt admittedly bad about was the fact that she didn’t know the girl’s name even after meeting her three times (and running away from her three times; this was decidedly going to be the fourth and hopefully the last). She didn’t even have a remote clue because there had never been the chance to find out, but they all apparently knew her.

In her peripheral vision, the rest of the crew were in chaos, barely holding out against their attackers. All the other passengers who weren’t supposed to have been involved had all disappeared below deck again, no doubt hiding in the cabins in hopes of getting away from the fighting. Those who had been caught in the crossfire had either vacated the deck or not made it.

Then again, knowing the people Byun Junsu sent, they wouldn’t be too interested in any civilians. If they got in the way they would be killed, but witnesses didn’t matter, so as long as they stayed out of his way, they were safe. He was set after one thing, which was the gem. Those in his way were nuisances; those who weren’t didn’t concern him.

The girl holding the knife to had been the first person sent by Byun Junsu after her; the first time she’d met her was when she was still in Vasileia. Jinqiong had gotten away fine, though she hadn’t managed to kill her or even remotely injure her. The second time she had barely got away, and the third hadn’t been any easier. The only thing that was good about her being there was that if she were, it meant Junsu was still behind (a good deal so), and given that they actually managed to get away from the situation without casualties, they would still have time to gear up and round up the rest of the crew Baekhyun was bringing before having to flee from Junsu again. The bad part was that there was nothing else left to do if was slit then and there. If it were, she thought, there would be no quest, no Hell’s Gate. Baekhyun would probably be happy about that.

Shaking away the thoughts, Jinqiong sideyed the familiar face. She was dressed in complete black like she always was, short, choppy hair framing sharp features, the knife pressed tightly against . One of Junsu’s many assassins; this one relatively skilled.

“Hey,” Jinqiong said, grinning lopsidedly, trying not to move too much. She was pretty sure the knife was beginning to draw blood at . “I thought you learned your lesson coming after me last time.”

“The gem, Song Jinqiong.” Her voice was cut, no-nonsense, no hint of any emotion detectable in it. Jinqiong swallowed and hoped her nervousness wouldn’t show.

She didn’t have a weapon on her—her power wasn’t much help, especially within so short a distance, and she was good with a blade. One wrong move and she’d be dead, the gem would be taken, and it would all be for vain.

Baekhyun was preoccupied at the side, as was Luhan and Kyungsoo. Neither Jongdae, Hei or Yuxuan were anywhere in sight, and even if there were, she couldn’t think of any one of them who would be dependable. Jongdae wasn’t exactly too capable of fighting. Yuxuan didn’t seem so. Song Hei… was nowhere in sight. Even if they wanted to help her, there was no possible way they could, because everyone had their hand full, their own enemy to deal with.

Then again, compared to the four men around Baekhyun, one assassin was nothing. She didn’t really have the right to complain.

“See,” Jinqiong said, shifting her stance ever so slightly. “It’s a funny story concerning the gem you’re talking about, since just the other day—”

Two things happened at once. The girl bared her teeth at her, obviously not taking the stalling. Jinqiong braced herself for the pain—she could try to wrestle the blade away, but there was no saying she didn’t have more or wouldn’t cut her before she could do so much as move—but before she could, a familiar figure appeared behind, moving surprisingly fast. More agile than she remembered he could be, Jongdae grabbed the arm that had been holding the knife, twisting it back.

Jinqiong reacted a split second later. She snatched the knife from the girl’s hands, forcing her to step back just as Jongdae let go of her. Before she could do as much as respond, she drove the knife into the left side of her chest.

They were standing over an unbreathing body a second later. Jongdae, who looked relatively unharmed, glanced towards her, raising an eyebrow. “You looked like you needed some help,” he told her.

Jinqiong shrugged. “I was doing fine on my own. You know this is the fourth time I’ve seen her? I actually killed her this time.”

Jongdae looked at the body with slight disgust before he shuddered. “Gloat over that all you like. We need to get out of here.”

Blinking, Jinqiong looked around her. The fight was dying down, and to her relief, it seemed that they had the upper hand. Kyungsoo had someone managed to take down the man who had been practically twice his size down with his backpack alone (then again, the backpack had been pretty heavy and it felt as if he had bricks in there), Luhan had finished up all except one of the men who had attacked him. She saw Baekhyun draw his cutlass through one last body before he lowered his blade, breathily heavily and scanning the deck around him. There was blood on him—most likely not his own—but all around the deck, the crew were picking themselves up again, composed after the fight as if it was something they did on a daily basis. And perhaps it was.

Jinqiong cast one last glance at the lifeless form on the deck at her feet. It wasn’t the first time she’d killed somebody, but for some reason, the fact that the assassin had been after her for such a long time made it odd that she wouldn’t be back again. Gone in the blink of an eye, so easy that it was slightly frightening.

It didn’t matter anyway. Straightening, she stepped away, sneaking one more glance in Jongdae’s direction before heading toward the rest of the crew. Baekhyun had sheathed his blade again, stepping over the bodies that littered the deck around him. “Alright,” he called, “we have to be leaving right now—”

Luhan’s warning came first, though Baekhyun didn’t seem to register it fast enough. One of the previous unmoving bodies rose to his feet behind him, next to the wall, unsteady but the blade in his hand aimed to kill. Baekhyun barely had the time to turn around—it would be too close of a shot to be inaccurate, and even if he happened not to hit something vital, it would still be a really bad wound—and then before anyone else could react or say something, there was a blur of movement from behind the corner. Something shiny and gold cut down swiftly in a deadly arc, clubbing the man at the back of the head. Like a paper doll, he crumbled to the ground, this time wholly unconscious.

Dead silence followed when Hei stepped out from the corner, still holding the candle stand she had used to whack the man over the skull. She was clutching it with both hands, frozen either with shock or confusion.

Baekhyun turned to look at his wife with wide eyes. Hei blinked, still seemingly unsure, before she stepped over the body and set down the candle stand. The rest of the crew was all watching, still shocked speechless, before Luhan croaked out, “Is that what you did to Byun Johwan last time?”

Hei frowned, obviously unsure why everyone was looking at her (or as if she knocked people out with candle stands on a daily basis and it was nothing new). “I was tipsy that time,” she started. “That guy was about to stab Baekhyun. I just did what I had to. Why do you keep on looking at me like that?”

Baekhyun, seeming to have recovered enough to speak, muttered, “I don’t know if I’m terrified of you or attracted to you right now.”

Hei dropped the candle stand with a clang and gave them a slightly sheepish smile. “Come on,” she started, “we don’t really have time to waste.”

***

Baekhyun wouldn’t let the candle stand incident drop even after she threatened him multiple times that he would be the one she hit if he didn’t stop, and after a while, Hei gave up. It was absolutely impossible to get him to shut up, and the easiest way was to let him talk about it until he got bored and moved onto a different topic.

To her relief, though, the crew got back in order quickly after, more or less by Kyungsoo, who deadpanned that knocking people out with candle stands aren’t really that abnormal. It didn’t exactly make the situation better, but it was enough to calm all of them down enough to get off the ship before more chaos ensured. Baekhyun apologized quickly to to Minhyuk, unable to do more, before they were all rushing off before any of the other passengers could see them.

Himaeri wasn’t that much different from the last Hei remembered of it. They hurried through the streets, hoping to beat both the time and people, because there was no way they would be able to go unrecognized after the stunt Baekhyun had pulled there the last time.

It wasn’t exactly an easy task because it was late afternoon, and while it wasn’t nearly as busy as it would have been at midday, especially with most of the street stalls beginning to close, there was still a good amount of people milling nearby. From the way they were dressed and the fact that Baekhyun’s face was still pasted everywhere on wanted posters after the stunt he had pulled at Hong Chul’s gala, it wouldn’t be hard to recognize them. While they were safe as soon as they got to Yoona, leaving would still be a bargain, as would finding a proper ship.

Thankfully, there were no more troubles. She was still slightly shaken up from the attack on the ship the moment after they docked, and while Baekhyun had brushed it off as nothing, the fact that he had been so close to getting stabbed unnerved her, a small reminiscent whisper of when it had happened before. If that was just one of Byun Junsu’s many assassins, then how much more powerful would he be? Still, the moment she told Baekhyun that she was scared and he’d be pressing to drop the whole thing.

At least it wasn’t their main worries for the moment. In less than five minutes, they had arrived at the side entrance of Yoona’s tavern, and Baekhyun hurried all of them inside. He went last, closing the door behind them before moving to the front of the line to lead them towards where Yoona was.

The tavern had yet to be opened when they came around to the front, though Yeri was there, sitting cross legged on the counter as she munched on a plate of food. She glanced towards them, not the least bit surprised, before nodding at Baekhyun. “Hey,” she said. “Yoona’s downstairs. She was expecting you guys, I think. Though I don’t think she knew that there would be so many of you? And she has a visitor, and I think he’s part of your crew. Kim something.”

Jongdae perked up at that. “Junmyeon?” he asked.

Yeri shrugged hopelessly. “Something of that sort?” she offered. “You’ll find out if you go downstairs. Best if you don’t stay up here, too, because we’re opening soon and people will spot you.”

With that, she hopped off the counter and rounded the corner and disappeared. Hei watched her leave, slightly amused. Her first encounter with the other girl had been months ago, at the gala, and she had hit her as the quiet type. Yeri was far from, and she had established that very well not long after Hei got to know her.

Baekhyun led them down a narrow corridor, then another before they were descending, single file, down a set of stairs. The passages were so narrow and low that Luhan had to hunch, and even Baekhyun was ducking to get through. Another half a minute of walking before they arrive at a larger room, where three sets of doors waited.

Without hesitation, Baekhyun reached for the one on the left. Hei couldn’t quite see the interior of it, though there was the familiar glow of candlelight, something that had been lacking in the darkness they had been walking through the whole time.

There was a tall girl waiting next to the door on the other side, in a hallway much more spacious than the one they had been travelling through. Yoona raised an eyebrow at Baekhyun when he stepped inside, then Luhan. She didn’t look particularly surprised—Hei supposed she knew of everything beforehand already, given that Yeri had been expecting them.

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