o10

Change of Plans

Hei couldn’t remember the last time she had actually slept so well, which was surprising because the last thing she remembered before she drifted off was Jinqiong’s warning that, unless they managed to hide the gem’s location, Byun Junsu would be able to catch up one or two days later. Still, she fell asleep quicker than she thought she would, briefly interrupted when Baekhyun joined her, but when she woke up, she actually felt refreshed. Maybe it was because the bed was actually large enough to fit both of them, unlike the one on the ship.

She could see the faint outline of Baekhyun next to her. There were no windows, just like the ship cabin, so there was no telling what time it was, but it must’ve been pretty late into the morning. Carefully, she untangled herself from Baekhyun, trying to make sure she didn’t wake him—he had spent a good portion of time discussing plans with Yoona and she had slept through all of that—but, like usual, he shifted at the movement.

“What time is it?” he croaked, voice raspy.

Hei froze, half propped up and still not quite able to dismantle herself from the blankets yet. “Go back to sleep,” she whispered.

Baekhyun groaned and rolled over onto his back. “I can’t sleep anymore.”

“You’ll probably be able to if I lie back down,” she told him drily, and she saw the corner of his lips turn upwards.

“You’re right.”

Giving up, Hei lay back down, though she was completely awake by then. Baekhyun seemed content with just that, because he shifted over towards her, an arm draped loosely over her waist. In less than two minutes, his breathing had steadied to even intervals, asleep once again.

More careful than before, she turned over so she was looking at him. She could remember still the first week or so when they’d arrived at Ezentia—Baekhyun was a light sleeper back then, and he always had been. She wasn’t sure if she had ever successfully attempted to leave without waking him up, and Hei also couldn’t figure out if it were endearing or frustrating.

Slowly, she raised a hand to his face, tracing a finger over his eyebrows, down his cheekbones, then ghosting carefully over his lips. It was almost mesmerizing looking at him, peering through the near-darkness with nothing but peaceful silence between them. There was something whole about the quietness.

“Staring again?” he murmured, and on instinct, she drew her hand back. Before she could tuck it under the blankets again, fingers wrapped around her wrist, and Baekhyun cracked open an eye to blink at her hazily. “I can feel you looking at me.”

Hei frowned. “That’s not even possible.”

“I know you too well,” he teased, sounding much more awake than the beginning. “It’s because you always admire my face.”

“Gross.”

“If Jongdae were here, he would tell you that you’re lying.”

There was no arguing with that, because if Jongdae were, he would most likely say that (and a couple more things she would rather not think about), so instead, Hei dropped her hand. “What did you talk to Yoona about last night? When will be leaving?”
 

“Oh, that.” There was a hint of excitement in Baekhyun’s voice, something boyish, almost like he was excited for the prospect of adventure. It reminded her of how she’d seen him perhaps ten months ago, except this was clean of the want for revenge, the chase to kill his father. “I was going to tell you last night but you already fell asleep. She has our ship, you know. The one that we stole from Hua?”

Hei let out a choked cough. “What?”

“Yeah,” Baekhyun grinned. “I actually left it at Himaeri the last time I used it, which was… months ago, but she still has it stored. We’re going to head for Xiyuan quickly to pick up a couple more people—Minseok’s supposed to be there and I think Chanyeol and Jongin would be too, though I’m not sure. Then we’re going to head straight to Hell’s Gate from there. It’s going to be a really tight schedule, but Xiyuan to Hell’s Gate is around nine days, so if we push it, we should be able to make it if the seas are good. Eight if we’re fast, but whatever it is, we have to get there on time. We can’t afford to wait until the next time Hell’s Gate opens, especially not with Byun Junsu only a step behind every time.”

“So we’re leaving before tomorrow?”

“Yes, and then you can do spring cleaning on the ship if you have nothing to do. Which you probably won’t.”

She wrinkled her nose at him. “I’m not your maid.”

“But I’m the captain.”

“Yeah, and the room would also belong to the captain, and therefore it would be his responsibility to clean.”

“That’s not what captains do, Hei.”

“You can’t be one if you can’t even deal with your basic responsibility,” she shot back, grinning. “Shouldn’t we get up now? There’s already enough to do and lying here doing nothing isn’t going to help.”

“Bonding time doesn’t count as nothing.”

She contemplated pushing him, but they were already leaning close to the left side of the bed and Hei was pretty sure that pushing Baekhyun off would be really likely if she did push harder, so she went with pinching his cheek. “Don’t be lazy and get up now.”

A little longer of bickering and she finally managed to get Baekhyun in a sitting position. He blinked blearily, looking disoriented by the sudden light despite having been awake for a good fifteen minutes as Hei searched for a change of clothing.

He was much faster after being forced up. By the time she finished washing up, Baekhyun was dressed and waiting for her at the door, flipping through his belongings. Hei could see what looked like a map spread out on the bed, and she realized from the indecipherable writing that it was the exact one they had gotten from Zitao in Aesta so long ago.

Baekhyun looked up at her. “I’ve marked the sectors,” was all he said, tone much more somber than before. “But the second sector was the safest to go through last time, and now with my father dead, it might be… it might be like what the first sector was like last time.”

Hei blinked. The thought had never crossed her mind because there had never come up the need to return to Hell’s Gate (even though she did remember Jongdae briefly mentioning it), but Baekhyun brought up a fair point. There were still two sectors left that they hadn’t crossed through, the fifth and the sixth, but she couldn’t imagine that they would be anything better.

“We don’t know,” she tried cautiously. “I mean, the amount of spirits in the first sector wasn’t just a result of Taeyong. It was when the whole of Fortuna was slaughtered by the families, so nothing’s for certain right now.”

Baekhyun’s frown didn’t disappear. “But if something similar happens in the second sector—we have to avoid the third at all costs—then I think…I think my father would be much more bent on getting revenge on you than the Lee family. Those ghosts were confused and didn’t even know who you were. But my father…” His eyes clouded. “You saw him before he died. Even in death, he’s not going to let it go easily.”

He was still, once again, right. The first sector had been bad enough, but if Baekhyun’s father was still there in the sector second, lingering, a ghost built on vengeance and anger and revenge and hatred, then she wasn’t too sure her luck would hold and she’d escape with her life a second time.

“Maybe we’ll have to end up fighting monsters the whole time,” she suggested tentatively, and when Baekhyun’s frown didn’t go away, Hei reached up and pushed at the side of his lips. “Hey, who’s the person who told me tomorrows would worry about themselves?”

Baekhyun looked less than willing to answer. “Me, but I was kind of stupid back then.”

“And yet here we are,” Hei cut in with a laugh. The thought still lingered, a whispering worry, but she pushed it back. He was right that there was no use worrying about what was going to come, especially when it was so out of their control. Leaning over to Baekhyun, she wrapped her arms around his neck and hoisted herself up. Baekhyun let out a noise of surprise, obviously not expecting it, though he still caught her legs on instinct. Hei rested her chin on his shoulder. “Let get going. We still have a lot of things to do today if we’re going to leave so soon.”

***

Jinqiong had no idea how long Luhan was going to work with the gem, but she was beginning to get bored. She couldn’t even tell what in the world he was doing or going to do with it, because for at least half an hour since he had started, it looked like he was having a staring contest with the jewel. Admittedly, she had nothing better to do than wait for Luhan to finish whatever it was he was trying to do, but it was still awfully boring. He was too concentrated to talk to her (which Jinqiong didn’t exactly mind, because the last thing she needed was an awkward conversation with Luhan again), but by the time an hour had passed, she was already thinking of much more efficient ways to pass the time. For one, she had wanted to see what the street markets would be like in Himaeri, buy a couple of things (preferably clothing she was actually comfortable in) and get actual fresh air. Cramped below ground, even if they were safe, made her ansty.

Still, she didn’t want to appear ungrateful either. Luhan was working on the gem, technically, for her (or at least it was her fault). He was nice enough, but Jinqiong didn’t suppose asking him to leave just because she was bored was a good idea.

After what seemed like forever, the door to the room opened again. She glanced up, half expecting to see Hei or Baekhyun, but it was Jongdae instead, and behind him, Junmyeon.

Jinqiong wasn’t sure why her first reaction was to avert eye contact, but she did, turning her gaze down to the gem Luhan was holding. He mumbled a distracting good morning, still concentrated on examining the jewel.

She could feel Jongdae’s gaze on her. It always had seemed obvious, anyway, especially when he was actively using his power, but she refused to acknowledge him. In her peripheral vision, he had stopped moving, still looking in her direction, and she hoped it wasn’t too obvious that she was uncomfortable.

Then, after the longest time, he finally started, “Jinqiong?”

Jinqiong looked up again. To her surprise, Junmyeon had left to go into the other room, though she somehow hadn’t noticed because she’d been focused on Jongdae the whole time. “What?” she asked, then cringed at her tone. It had come out a lot harsher than she had intended.

If Jongdae noticed, he didn’t say anything about it but nodded in the direction of the door. “We’re leaving today,” he said, “though before we go, Junmyeon said I should probably buy a couple of things. You haven’t had time to do that for a long time, so you should probably come too.”

She was shaking her head immediately. “I’d rather not intrude on your time with your brother—”

“He’s not going,” Jongdae interrupted. “He doesn’t really need to get anything because he’s already been in Himaeri for a while already.”

Jinqiong faltered. On one hand, she really had wanted to, but she also hadn’t spoken to Jongdae properly for a couple of days since the last time on the ship, and she wasn’t quite sure if one morning out without anybody between them would result in more awkwardness or them back at each other’s throats. Then again, she wasn’t sure if she’d have another chance to go if she rejected Jongdae’s offer then and there.

“You probably should go,” she heard Luhan say. “I mean, you won’t get a chance like this much sooner. I think I’ve made a bit of progress with the gem—I’ve kind of figured out its properties and I need to work out a cloaking spell later, but we’ve done enough for today. If we leave today like Baek has planned, you still have hours until we’re going, and both you and Jongdae are short on basically… everything.”

Looking towards Jongdae again, Jinqiong hesitated, even though she already knew at that point that no most likely wasn’t an answer. She had the feeling that it wasn’t going to end well, but then again, there was nothing else she could do.

“Alright,” she agreed, regretting the words almost immediately after she said them. “Fine. I’ll go.”

***

“I want dumplings,” Jongdae decided when they had exited the tavern. “You haven’t eaten breakfast yet, right?”

Jinqiong glanced at him. They were walking down a smaller alley, coming from the back door of Yoona’s place, and above them, the sky was blue without a hint of clouds. She felt decidedly uncomfortable in the dress she had chosen (it was the least eye-catching out of everything she saw in the pile of clothes, but she still prefered pants and a shirt more). “No,” she finally said. “I’m not really hungry, though.”

It was definitely more awkward than anything else. S