o24

Through Water and Ice

Jinqiong thought what she’d seen in Xiyuan was bad, when Baekhyun and Hei had both literally been abducted by Junsu. Now, staring at the three ships that were drawing closer near the horizon, she realized that she hadn’t even begun to touch the level of bad Junsu could manage. That had been… well, before had been bad. This was a nightmare. Byun Junsu was the nightmare, and they had managed to piss him off in perhaps every way possible, starting with her taking the gem he believed rightfully belonged to him. 

She had known Junsu’s ships were fast, and the only thing Jinqiong managed was travelling by land. He couldn’t track the gem to acute accuracy, only the area, and while that played to his advantage on the sea, it was different when it came to land, especially when there were many people. And especially if she could be invisible. For a while, Jinqiong had managed perfectly fine, but it had gotten tiring, especially with Jongdae. 

But now, on sea—even if the ship they had was fast, it wasn’t a match against Junsu. Especially not when it was three against one. And especially not with the way Baekhyun was standing, bleeding from the shoulder but still standing protectively in front of Hei. If they were to get out of the situation unscathed (or as uninjured as possible), they needed a captain that could think with a clear head and be ruthless. It was obvious that Baekhyun was in no state to do so. 

Jinqiong had no doubt Baekhyun was powerful. And even when he was injured, he could do a lot of damage with his power. But Junsu wasn’t so stupid to not know what he was capable of, and to have taken measures to be properly prepared. If he didn’t think properly, all he would be doing would be throwing his power about recklessly, and even if that was a lot of power, it wouldn’t be enough. 

“We can’t outrun them,” she finally said, and Baekhyun snapped out of it. 

“Go back to the cabin,” he said, turning around to Hei. “Close the door.” 

Her eyebrows furrowed. “I can’t just—” 

“You have to,” he replied, more of a plea than a command, and Hei relented. 

“Be careful,” she warned. “And if anything goes wrong, I’m still stopping time.” 

Jinqiong had a feeling Baekhyun agreed to pacify her, but Hei gave one last glance at them, lips pressed together, before the cabin door swung shut. 

Baekhyun turned towards her immediately. Jinqiong waited, unsure of what to expect. She was prepared for the worst case scenario—too emotional to make sound judgement—but his expression was surprisingly clear, mouth set in a hard line. “Chanyeol, Jongin, I want you up at the helm,” he said. “Jinqiong, you’re with me. Jongdae, you too. You both know Junsu well enough, and I need to have more information on him to figure out the best way of getting out of here. Kyungsoo, grab Yuxuan and Yixing from below deck, and Junmyeon, get us away from Junsu’s direction as quick as possible.” 

Junmyeon opened his mouth to say something, then snapped it shut. He mouthed something at Jongdae before turning to the railing of the ship. Kyungsoo, likewise, ran for the stairs. 

Baekhyun swayed, planting his uninjured arm on the doorframe before he swore. “I wish Minseok was here right now,” he muttered, more to himself than to anyone else. The arrow protruding from his shoulder didn’t look too deep, but the area around it was turning dark red from blood, and Baekhyun’s face was pained enough. 

“You need to get that out and treated,” Jinqiong said. 

He made an irritated noise. “You don’t think I want to? That’s hardly our priority now, is it?” 

“Junsu’s still a distance away, so—” 

“Junsu’s close enough to rain ing arrows on everyone on this ship, and while Luhan does have shields, it’s not nearly enough and we cannot afford another tear in the mast. I’ll survive.” 

Jinqiong had to physically bite her lip to keep herself from snapping back, but even then, it was very tempting. She opted for gesturing at Junsu’s fleet. “His ship is much faster than ours,” she told him. “He has more men. And he probably has a good amount of people from the families.” 

“What if I drowned him?” 

“You have an arrow sticking from your shoulder, but even if you could, he’s smart enough to have done his research on you. He knows your powers, so that means he’ll have taken precautions against it.” 

Baekhyun let out an angry stream of profanities. Maybe he had been contemplating drowning Junsu. 

“Jinqiong’s right,” Jongdae spoke up, “we can’t outrun Junsu. Not on the sea. Not even with your power and my power combined.” 

“Then we’re trapped.” 

“There’s only one other way.” 

Baekhyun whirled on Jongdae, the lividness obvious in his eyes and his tone. “No,” he practically snarled. “No. We are not going into Hell’s Gate right now just because you want to fulfil some stupid quest of yours and the only way to do so is through Lee Taeyong—” 

“Baekhyun,” Jongdae interrupted in a low voice. It took Jinqiong a moment to realize that he was angry too. He just wasn’t yelling, but that was, on Kim Jongdae, even more frightening. “You cannot outrun Byun Junsu.” 

“No,” he repeated. “Hei is—” 

“Hei is pregnant, and Junsu does not and will not give a about it when he catches us, which he will because we’re outnumbered, outpowered, and cannot beat them in terms of speed either. You betrayed him. You humiliated him. You outsmarted him. You know what he’s going to do with you and Hei because of that? You know what he’ll do to her to get back at you?” 

Baekhyun looked nauseated. “Hell’s Gate is just as dangerous.” 

“Hell’s Gate is the only way we’ll be getting away from Byun Junsu, because it’s the only place we have the advantage. We have a map. We have experience. It’s possible he can’t even get through the gates. You can risk that, or you can try to run from here, and that won’t work, and you know I can’t lie.” 

Baekhyun swore again, voice raw. His hands were trembling, though he no longer seemed to remember the arrow in his shoulder, the blood staining across the front of his shirt. “Goddammit,” he growled, although beneath the anger, it wasn’t hard to see the desperation. The ship was already beginning to move forward faster, which Junmyeon’s power, but it wasn’t enough, because while they had pulled away slightly from Junsu’s fleet, they still weren’t far behind. And it was only a matter of time before they gained distance. 

At that moment, the doors burst open and Kyungsoo half-charged out, Yuxuan and Yixing in tow. Yuxuan, whose expression bordered on bewildered, gave a horrified exclamation when she saw Baekhyun. 

“Your shoulder,” she managed. 

Baekhyun winced as if just remembering it. “,” he muttered, then looked up at Kyungsoo. “Go to the helm,” he said sharply. “Tell Luhan that we’re heading for Hell’s Gate as quick as possible. We need to get there before Junsu can corner us.” 

Yuxuan’s eyes widened. “Hei—” 

“Yeah, I know.” Baekhyun’s voice was strained. 

“This is dangerous,” Kyungsoo warned. 

“I know,” Baekhyun repeated, the wariness evident in his voice. “Go.” 

Kyungsoo gave him one glance, half-warning and half-trepidation before he fled up the stairs to the helm. 

Baekhyun pressed his lips together, eyes fixed on the horizon where Junsu’s ships are. “Jinqiong, Jongdae,” he said without taking his eyes off the ocean, “what style of attack does Junsu use most often? You said he would’ve taken precautions for my power. What would those be?” 

Jongdae’s eyebrows furrowed. “There was only once,” he began. “Jinqiong and I were on a passenger ship heading away from Vasileia when Junsu caught up to us. We were close enough to shore, but Jinqiong hid us for long enough that Junsu lost his temper and destroyed the whole ship.” He winced. “We made it without being caught because it was almost sunrise, but… he’s well equipped. That’s all I know.” 

Baekhyun nodded absentmindedly. “The arrows?” 

“That was only a warning.” 

He raised a hand to his shoulder, fingers curling around the wooden shaft that protruded. He grit his teeth, eyebrows drawing together in pain, before he yanked hard. 

The arrow tore out with a nauseating sound—soft, but nauseating—followed by a fresh stream of blood. Baekhyun let out an angry, pained hiss, but apart from that, remained unfazed in regards to the pain. After a second, he opened his palm and a small orb of water formed. Features scrunched, he brought his hand up, directing the orb of water towards the open wound, before it seemed to absorb into the wound. 

Baekhyun winced as if it brought him no more than a little discomfort. There didn’t seem much visibly different about the wound, but it seemed to have stopped bleeding, at least a bit. Not exactly better, but at least the blood flow had been stopped. 

For moment, no one moved, and then Yuxuan surged forward. Baekhyun blinked as if seeing her for the first time, then tried to move back when she reached for his shoulder. 

“Save your energy,” he started. 

“No,” she shot back, insistent for what was usually seen on Yuxuan. “At least let me heal a bit. You are in no… no condition to fight like this.”

Baekhyun’s eyes flickered anxiously at the horizon, but he relented as Yuxuan focussed on the wound. 

Jongdae took the opportunity to look back at her. “We’re in his line of fire,” he said. “Do you think you can conceal the whole ship?” 

She blanched. “What?” 

“Conceal the ship,” Jongdae repeated, raising a challenging eyebrow. “You’re supposed to be powerful in the family, right? If you can conceal yourself and objects, then why not the whole ship?” 

She gaped at him. “Do you know what you’re asking me to do?” 

Jongdae’s mouth had been set in a grim line before, but this time, it curled into a slightly dry smile. “So you can’t do that?” 

“You know how my power works? I have to bend light around objects. It’s not just… some sort of magic. And if I need to bend it around an object, I need to see it. The ship is too big for me to really see, and I can’t bend light around that.” 

“What about the area in front of the ship?” 

“I—” 

“We’re not headed in quite the right direction yet,” Baekhyun interrupted, and Jinqiong looked towards him in surprise. He was listening to the whole conversation as Yuxuan healed the wound on his shoulder, her face screwed up in concentration. “It’s slightly off to the north, and while we can still approach the gates from this direction, Junsu won’t see it coming if you can veil us for a while. Without invisibility, we’ll be too close to his line of damage to turn course that way safely, but this might give us a bit of time to get through to the gates, and perhaps just enough so he isn’t close to do damage.” 

Jinqiong in a sharp breath. “I don’t know if I can do this,” she protested. “If there’s a backup plan or even better another plan altogether—” 

“Try it.” Baekhyun shrugged Yuxuan’s hand off his shoulder, and she gave a protest about the wound not being healed. He shook his head and gestured at the helm for her and Yixing, and then instead, met her gaze. “Or are you unable to?” 

Jinqiong scowled. “Could you summon a tsunami right now to wipe out Junsu’s ships? Because that would give us some better options.” 

He tilted his head. The man who had more or less lost his composure over the prospect of going to Hell’s Gate was gone, and Jinqiong wasn’t sure if Baekhyun had really accepted the decision, or if he were just that good at acting. “Jinqiong,” he started slowly. “We’re in this mess the first place because you dragged us here.” 

That wasn’t what she had been expecting, and Jinqiong’s snapped up to glare at him. “What?” she demanded, too surprised to even sound remotely angry. 

Baekhyun’s voice was borderline taunting. “Junsu will massacre everyone on this ship because of your stone, and you know it.” 

Jongdae’s voice was harsh, a warning. “Baekhyun.” 

“No,” he interrupted. “Let’s hear Jinqiong. Am I wrong?” 

She had half the mind to draw her dagger and throw it at him. The initial surprise had faded, ebbing into something more violently angry, white-hot rage. “You agreed to help me, .” 

“I also remember telling you that if Hei was ever in danger, I wouldn’t hesitate. As much as Byun Junsu hates me, I think he would be pacified for today if I tied you up, threw you in a rowboat and sent you to him, wouldn’t he?” 

Jinqiong took a small step back at the aggression in his voice. “Junsu shouldn’t have been able to track the gem here—”

“Well, he has, and if you can’t do anything about it, I will.” 

It was