o45

Where Loyalties Lie

The smoke bomb (smoke bomb was a simplification of whatever it was Luhan had made—Jinqiong wasn’t too sure if it even had a name) worked wonders. Junsu should’ve been expecting something, but it obviously wasn’t what he anticipated because he stumbled back, coughing violently, just like the rest of his men. The blast had been enough to throw Kim Jungwoo to the side, and Jinqiong slammed the hilt of her dagger against one of the men’s heads and kicked Junsu in the chest, as hard as she could. Her eyes stung, but it didn’t matter as she shoved past all of them to where Hei was chained to the mast a couple meters away. Adrenaline was enough for her to keep moving.

Her sister was coughing from the smoke as well, though she managed to keep her eyes open and offered a watery smile. “A very fine touch by Luhan,” she choked out. “Can you get these chains off?”

Jinqiong squinted. Behind her, the smoke had gotten so bad that it was impossible to see where Junsu or his men were, even if she could hear the angry shouting. There were metal chains, she could see, attached to both her wrists and bound around the mast, but—

“You’re bleeding,” Jinqiong blurted out.

“I—” Hei glanced down at her shoulder, where the light grey coat was torn and dyed with a dark color that couldn’t have been anything but blood. “Yeah. Pissed off Junsu. Said a couple of things I shouldn’t have. How are you going to get these off? Can you get them off?”

Jinqiong pressed her lips together. “Maybe.”

“Jungwoo has the key, and it’s chained to something on the other side so it holds me here. If you can find where they locked it onto…” Her eyes flickered over. “There.”

Jinqiong followed the direction where Hei had been nodding her chin at. “Alright,” she said. “Here goes nothing.”

It wasn’t any simpler from the previous time as Jinqiong willed the metal clasp to disappear. It wasn’t large, so she reasoned that it shouldn’t have been as hard as making herself disappear completely. Except this time she didn’t have the luxury of focusing for time, given that Junsu was already shouting threats through the smoke and she had a matter of seconds before the time ran out.

“Jinqiong,” Hei warned.

Jinqiong glared at the metal. Disappear, she thought angrily, trying to force it away. She could see its shape flickering from view, but it wasn’t gone like before. Grabbing onto Hei’s hand, she willed her power over both of them.

A temporary veil, and one that wouldn’t last very long, given that Jungwoo could most likely seal her power when he was focussed again. Still, when she glanced behind them, she saw Junsu’s silhouette already moving towards them through the smoke.

Come on, come on, come on. She could feel Hei tugging at the chains, but they wouldn’t move because the bar was still there, and her power refused to cooperate. How she had done it before now seemed like a distant thing, and she was once again incapable.

“Where are you?” she heard Junsu snarl. She didn’t dare look towards him. “Come out if you want any of the rest of your friends to live.”

Jinqiong tried to force him out of her mind. Concentrate, she chanted to herself. Focus, focus, goddammit—

“Jinqiong,” Hei said quietly.

“Song Jinqiong!” Junsu bellowed.

She squeezed her eyes shut. He was getting closer, and the smoke was beginning to clear. It wasn’t so much as a distraction for them as it was for the rest of the crew and for Chanyeol, but still, the invisibility wouldn’t work forever if she couldn’t get Hei out of there. She needed her power to work, and—

Hei gave another tug. There was a sharp screech of the chain dragging across the wooden deck before Jinqiong barely managed to evade the end of the chain flying towards her head. Hei let out a noise of surprise, thrown off by the force, and Jinqiong managed to stop her from stumbling.

Junsu turned around. He had drawn his whip, having heard both of them. The chains, both of them, were still scraping against the ground. Jinqiong was positive that she didn’t have enough control over her power to make both of them disappear, and Hei was desperately trying to gather both of them so they wouldn’t drag on the deck.

“We need to leave,” Jinqiong whispered at her sister, grabbing her arm. The shackles clanked loudly.

In the smoke, she could make out the figures of the rest of Junsu’s men heading towards them. It wasn’t impossible to tell who was who—they were still invisible, but not gone, and it wouldn’t have done any good if they stayed in the place. Sooner or later they’d be found, or Jungwoo would uncover them with his power.

Something flashed towards them. Instinctively, Jinqiong raised her arm to block, shoving Hei aside as well.

The whip caught her on the forearm, immediately cutting a sharp, messy line of red and tearing through clothing too easily. Her breath escaped in a hiss of pain, but Jinqiong managed to shake it off and push Hei towards the other end of the deck before Junsu could use his whip again. Stumbling, Hei managed to keep up, even though the invisibility was flickering and she was dragging the whole bundle of chains in her arms.

“We need to get below deck,” Jinqiong told her. “Apparently Luhan saw some really weird in that last sector, but he kind of managed to harness Chanyeol’s power and we’re burning all three of Junsu’s ships, but I need to plant the potion somewhere else. Do you know where it is?”

The invisibility had faded completely by then. The smoke, too, was clearing up. It was easier to navigate, but also easier for Junsu and the rest of his men to see.

“This way,” Hei said as she pushed open a door.

Footsteps sounded behind them. Jinqiong nearly shoved her sister down the stairs before slamming the door shut. She jammed one of her daggers against the handle—it would only do so much, but hopefully it would be enough to slow them for a moment—before hurrying down the stairs with Hei.

“Junsu’s power is mind control,” Hei said. “I don’t know how it works and why he hasn’t used it on any of us, but Jungwoo mentioned it.”

There was a slam on the wooden door behind them before it rattled loudly. Jinqiong swore before hurrying her steps. “We need to get out of here as soon as possible,” she whispered. “There’s a potion. Luhan told me to throw it at Junsu at the moment we need to get out. I don’t know how it works, but as soon as we plant the fire one, we can get out of here. The rest of the crew should be working on the other two ships, and the moment we get out of here, Luhan’s going to free Taeyong. Apparently the potion is a signal as well.”

“Baekhyun’s on one of the ships?”

Loud pounding sounded on the door above again. Jinqiong could see the wood splintering when she looked back, but then Hei turned right into the first room with an open door. “Here,” she said.

There was a single lantern that had been left on the wall. In the corner there was a small bed with threadbare sheets, then on the other side of the room, rusted metal jutted out—similar to the one on the deck.

“They kept you here,” Jinqiong started slowly. It wasn’t the worst condition, but looking at Hei, it had done a number on her. Her face was paler than before (and Jinqiong was sure it wasn’t just because of the lighting), she looked like she hadn’t rested in days (probably true) and there was blood staining the grey coat she was wearing on both sides of her arms (she would have to ask about that one at a more opportune time, if that ever came). And the fact that she was pregnant—

“I’m okay,” Hei said quickly. She shut the door. “Do what you need to do. Then we can get out.”

Jinqiong took out the vial from her pocket. It was small, gave off a reddish gleam, and the contents swirled like fire itself (or maybe it was fire itself). She had been warned not to open or touch it at all costs until necessary. Luhan’s specific instructions had been wait for it to detonate, and I’ll make sure it does. Then Baekhyun had flown him away, and Jinqiong had been left with barely a clue on how to operate half the potions he’d left her with.

Just as she was contemplating it, a crash sounded upstairs, and Jinqiong flinched. She nearly dropped the bottle, but managed to keep a sound grip on it.

“The door’s gone,” Hei said, turning around from the door. Footsteps thudded, and Jinqiong leaned down to place the potion gingerly under the bed. She could see the slight glow of it even where she was standing, but hopefully, Junsu would be too distracted to see it.

“Get back from the door,” Jinqiong warned as the footsteps, now faster, drew nearer. Hei listened, moving away slowly. She had wound up her chains so that most of them were looped around, leaving a bit more than a meter at each end. It wasn’t ideal, but Jinqiong supposed it was the only thing close to a weapon.

“You follow everything I say after this,” Jinqiong told her.

Hei pressed her lips together.

“Hei,” Jinqiong snapped.

Her sister hesitated, then, finally, “Yeah.”

The door slammed open, with enough force that the bottom half was torn from its hinges. Hei flinched back, nearly stumbling into Jinqiong, though she braced herself bravely a second later. Jinqiong wondered if she looked as scared as she felt, because her heart was pounding so hard that she could almost hear it and all she could think about was the thousand possibilities of what could go wrong.

Junsu stalked in, footsteps loud with the clank of his armour as he moved. The whip dragged behind him, the metal barbs tearing at the wood. Jinqiong’s arm ached just looking at it, although she had an inkling that the rips down Hei’s coat and the blood were also from the whip. And that looked much, much worse.

Behind Junsu, Jungwoo stepped inside as well. The rest of his men were nowhere to be seen, but Jinqiong supposed that he didn’t really need them anyway. Even without Jungwoo, he was strong enough to deal with them both.

“You lost your dagger,” Junsu said conversationally. Jinqiong turned her gaze to his free hand, the shine of metal in the dim light, before he raised his arm at a speed too quick for her to follow and threw it in one deadly, precise swing.

The thud as it embedded itself into the wall was heard before Jinqiong turned around to look. Junsu had thrown it with enough force that it had sunk to the wooden wall almost up to its hilt, inches away from Hei, and—

Not inches away. Hei brought up a still-manacled wrist to her cheek, eyes wide and looking a mix between shocked and afraid, before wiping at the line of red that the cut had left. Her fingers came away crimson, and amidst the terror, a wave of anger rose up inside her. With all the strength Jinqiong could muster, she snatched her dagger from the wall and all but tore it out.

Junsu sneered at them. “Where can you run now?” he asked. “Did you think you could hide? Did you think that little trick could stop me?”

She palmed the last vial left in her sleeves. Give it two seconds to set in, Luhan told her, another of his vague instructions, and you’ll know what to do.

Junsu took a step closer. “The gem,” he snarled. “Give it to me now.”

Jinqiong took her hand out of her pocket. The vial was a lot smaller than the gem, thinner, but it still gleamed the same color. Junsu’s gaze went immediately to it, his eyes wide—right before Jinqiong threw it at him as hard as she could.

Two things happened almost at once. Junsu reacted instinctively, whip slashi