*A little bit early, and not on Sunday, but an update nonetheless :)

oo5

Boarding Ship

Hei had no idea what to think when she saw the ship docked at the pier, shouldering her bags and trailing after Baekhyun. Luhan had agreed to board a little bit later with Jinqiong and Jongdae in case someone were to recognize them, which wasn’t exactly unlikely if they were going all together.

The ship itself wasn’t anything special, a plain brown, moving slightly with the waves. It was of decent size, at least, and there was already a small line of people waiting to board. While the ship she and Baekhyun had taken from Hua to Ezentia had been somewhat fancier, the similarities almost felt uncanny as she stared at it.

Baekhyun stopped walking to glance back at her, a grin on his face. “What?” he teased when she paused. “Deja vu?”

“You don’t say,” Hei murmured.

“I’m going to hope this journey is less traumatizing than the last,” he replied. “I think that’s doable, right, Miss Hei?”

“Depends on you, captain.”

He grinned at her. “I’ll have to do my best, then.”

Threading her arm through his, Hei caught up with his steps as they headed towards the wooden port. It was almost fascinating watching the line of people—the last time Hei had been there she had been too preoccupied with her own fear and confusion to pay attention to anyone else, and at the same time, Baekhyun had been nothing but a stranger, someone she found frighteningly interesting at the same time as he was terrifying and dangerous. Nearly twelve months later—it was so surreal that she wasn’t sure what felt more unlikely: the frightenedly, lonely girl from from months ago was still her, or the person next to her humming under his breath was the face on a poster she’d marvelled, the story of a broken childhood her tutor had so often told her about. Both should’ve been impossible.

“Also,” Baekhyun suddenly started, “Luhan and I have figured out sleeping arrangements. Kind of.”

She raised an eyebrow at him. “And what are they?”

“The cabins should be either across the hall or next to each other,” he replied. “There are only four beds. Luhan refuses to share one with anyone. I think Song Jinqiong wouldn’t want to—”

“We’re sharing a bed,” she concluded. “And then?”

Not the least bit fazed, Baekhyun gave her a grin and carried on. “Jongdae and Jinqiong have been together for at least a month or two at this point, so I don’t think either of them will mind too much if they’re in the same cabin. Luhan would be more used to it, at any rate, unless you want to put Jinqiong in the same cabin as us.”

“Junsu’s after Jinqiong and Jongdae, though.” Hei frowned. “Would putting the two of his targets together really be a good idea?”

“If Byun Junsu even manages to find the ship,” he replied. “Himaeri is only three days’ journey away, and while the ship isn’t the fastest, I can use my power. And if Junsu finds the ship, I doubt he’ll be quiet about it. Sleeping arrangements are the last thing we’ll have to worry about then.”

There wasn’t anything about that that she could argue against. Before any of them could say anything else, though, they neared the line of people, which was already beginning to move steadily onto the ship. In her peripheral vision, she could see Baekhyun twisting the ring on his finger, a nervous habit, and she glanced at the man who was checking with every single person boarding. It made sense that he was wary, though—even after six months, going out in the open in broad daylight made Hei antsy too, and for Baekhyun, probably more so.

It turned out to be fine, however. They boarded just like the rest of the passengers, and not after long, Baekhyun was leading her below deck, where all the cabins supposedly were.

Being on a ship after so long was odd. Being on an unfamiliar ship, where each cabin didn’t just house the crew but strangers, was something she was even more unused to. Hei spun around in the dimly-lit hallway, taking in the surroundings, though they were as plain as the rest of the ship was decorated. The room, a couple of paces down the hall from the stairs, was small when Baekhyun unlocked it with his key, even more cramped than her cabin had been on Baekhyun’s first ship.

Hei peered inside. Baekhyun squinted into the darkness, then took a step inside. “There’s a lamp on the wall,” he informed her before he stepped inside. A couple of seconds later, there was a warm glow coming from inside the room, and Hei followed him through the doorway.

The room was indeed small. There perhaps two lengths between both beds, which were pushed to the side, and neither of them were extremely large. The only other object in the room was a rusted bronze candle stand, which had been placed next to the bed on the right, with a half-burned piece of wax.

“I found your weapon,” Baekhyun told her when he closed the door behind them, gesturing towards the candle stand. “But there’s no rope. Pity.”

Hei rolled her eyes at him and surveyed the room one more time. There was virtually nothing to look at, so Hei turned towards the two beds instead.

They were both folded neatly, which was a bonus, and the sheets looked relatively clean. Sleeping on a passenger ship was still something she wasn’t exactly keen on, though the place, while small, looked relatively… livable. After a couple moments, she headed towards the nearest bed, set her bag on the ground, and sat down. Baekhyun followed her movements.

They sat in comfortable silence for a little while as she took everything in. The change was so nice that Hei still had a hard time believing it, and she would’ve stayed back thinking of the first time they’d been on a passenger ship if Baekhyun hadn’t leaned forward and picked up the pendant she was wearing around her neck. “You’re wearing it,” he murmured.

Hei glanced down. “I didn’t want to leave it back there. I wear it everyday, anyway.”

He played with the pendant a couple of seconds longer before letting it drop and lowering his hand. “At any rate,” Baekhyun started, but before he could finish speaking, the door opened abruptly.

“Hello,” Luhan chirped, sounding a lot more chipper than any one of them had been. “The cabin across is Jinqiong and Jongdae’s, right?”

Baekhyun nodded, standing up. He had just begun sorting out the backpack he had brought, pulling out miscellaneous items one by one. There was also something sheathed that lay across the bed, and after a couple more seconds of inspection, Hei realized that it was his cutlass. The handle was still worn out, but not more so than she remembered. It had, after all, spent the last couple of months in the bottom of a drawer, wrapped carefully in white cloth as it collected dust.

“You brought your cutlass,” she said, and Baekhyun glanced away from Luhan to what he’d spread out on the bed.

“Yeah,” he replied. “I thought… well…” He faltered slightly, eyes flickering over the blade, a sort of hesitance creeping into his voice. “I thought I’d try to use it again.”

She could tell why he was unsure, though. The handguard of his shortsword was just peeking out, strapped to his belt, which was what he’d been using the past couple of months. He barely mentioned it, but Hei could still remember him briefly complaining about how he wasn’t used to the blade, even though it was most likely the one that was most similar to what he had been using for the past either years. Still, eight years didn’t take away the fact that he’d literally been killed by it, even if it did mean a lot to him, and in a way, defined him for so long.

“I thought the cutlass was mine now,” she joked, and Baekhyun laughed slightly, although it still sounded a bit distracted. He gave the blade one last look, one of longing and uncertainty, before straightening, tearing his gaze away from it.

“Are you sure Jinqiong and Jongdae are a good idea put together?” he asked Luhan. Hei wasn’t sure if the change of topic was intentional or he genuinely found no point in lingering. “I mean, they’re kind of at each other throats in a way I really… don’t get. Do you think putting them in a room together for three days is really the best idea?”

Luhan had apparently decided to make himself at home in the cabin. He was already arranging the small bed, his own, small bag of belongings set at the very side. “I would say you should check on them, but I’ve already deduced that you and Jinqiong aren’t exactly best buddies. Besides, they’ve known each other for a while. Jongdae’s smart enough to know his limits, and Jinqiong’s not an idiot either. She’s not going to screw any of this up because she knows that she hasn’t got a chance against Byun Junsu if we don’t help her.”

“I still don’t know if it’s smart,” Baekhyun grumbled, and before they could go on any longer, Hei stood up.

“I’ll go,” she volunteered abruptly. “I don’t think Jongdae’s been on a passenger ship. And Jinqiong either. I’ll see if they’re fine with sleeping arrangements and stuff and if… any of them want to move or change.”

She didn’t wait for any of their replies before heading out of the door to across the hall, where Jinqiong and Jongdae were supposedly.

***

The saddest part about the whole thing might’ve been that the passenger ship was the nicest place Jinqiong had lived in for at least two months, minus Hei’s house, which didn’t quite count, because they were there for less than twelve hours.

It wasn’t even anything extravagant. It wasn’t even comparable to what she’d lived in back in Hua, but two months of being on the run from Byun Junsu and anything that was a clean bed and the chance to actually allow herself to sleep felt better than any luxury she had had before. The cabin, by Hua’s standards, was so small that it couldn’t even have been called a washroom, but Jinqiong didn’t care the least bit. It was cozy, there was a clean bed, a small light burning in the corner, and for once, everything seemed to be going a bit better than she had expected. Byun Baekhyun seemed to hate her, but that wasn’t too out of the blue and she didn’t particularly care what he thought about her.

The only problem was that she was sharing the room with Kim Jongdae, but that wasn’t too big a problem that it was unignorable. He’d been uncharacteristically quiet, anyway, so Jinqiong told herself to scratch out his presence and focus on relaxing. It was long overdue, after all, and she wasn’t going to let the fact that he was there ruin it. He was probably tired too, given that the amount both of them had rested back at the house hadn’t nearly been enough.

“Jinqiong,” Jongdae suddenly started, and she frowned, turning to look at him. He had already inspected the whole room, and, apparently having found nothing worth the time, resorted to sitting cross-legged on the bed. “What did Baekhyun say to you?”

“Why?”

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