Trusting JongDae was always an obvious choice and as always LuHan was right. The captain also understood why his navigator liked that BaekHyun girl. Apart from the fact that she tried to sell SeHun to some mad people in blue and pink, she was nice and smart and turned out to be honest and caring.
He trusted JunMyeon too of course but the situation was kind of getting out of hand.

LuHan looked at SeHun and although he wanted to be with him, he couldn't let the Ariadne, his legacy, be hijacked or wrecked by some strange aliens. 
LuHan was wrong. SeHun's safety did matter, nothing was worth putting his life into jeopardy. Because he loved him, right now he had to let him go. But as if SeHun knew exactly what the Chinese captain was thinking, he stood up and grabbed the back of LuHan's suit, whispering into his ear.

"I'm going with you."

When the blond turned around the Therianthrope's orbs were yellowish and LuHan looked right at them, shifting from the left one to the right one, but there was no fear in SeHun's beautiful eyes, only determination. The two of them communicated silently for a while and the captain finally sighed, admitting defeat.

So stubborn, LuHan thought, but he couldn't keep his lips from curving into a small smile despite this dangerous situation. It reminded him of JongIn and LuHan's smile grew on his face.

"JongDae," he said in his captain voice (yeah he had a captain voice), eyes still on SeHun and the latter smiled too, his eyes regaining their usual dark color.

"How do you feel about a captain having his own vessel stolen?"

LuHan's voice was serious but JongDae let out one of his famous short and high pitched laughs. 

"Pretty lame, sir."

"My point exactly," LuHan said turning to his navigator in a dramatic way. "Nobody robs or outwits the Great Captain LuHan."

He nodded and JongDae smiled.

"Aye, captain."

The chestnut-haired man stood at attention then gently pushed BaekHyun aside and set the coordination JunMyeon shouted on the phone earlier. A good memory was crucial when you were a navigator.

"Excuse me," BaekHyun looked baffled, but JongDae didn't even spare a look to her and proceeded his work on the screen. "Are you out of your mind?" BaekHyun still went on. "I know I'm not really one to talk here, but I'm pretty sure bringing SeHun to them is not a good idea."

"Who said it was?" JongDae said, setting the commands to their destination. "Plus, I don't question captain's orders."

His voice was a bit sharp and to LuHan it looked like his navigator was ignoring the half-nereid, which made the blond smile. It meant JongDae was still a little angry at BaekHyun, and it meant that he really liked her.

"But I still think we need to think this through," BaekHyun was worried. "You can't just burst in without a plan."

"Who said I don't have one?" LuHan lifted his chin proudly.

"I said so," BaekHyun retorted immediately. "Because you don't. You guys are all about the adrenaline and the 'barely made it' super cool and super dangerous life threatening action."

Yep, perfect match for JongDae.

"We can't use the element of surprise," BaekHyun went on. "Your ship's bigger and faster than mine and they know the Therianthrope is with us."

"But they won't be expecting that we actually bring SeHun with us," LuHan tried to make a point as if it was his plan all along. But the truth was he had no idea what they were going to do.

"But that's just stupid," BaekHyun cut him off. "Plus, we don't know about the situation over there. You should always be prepared for the worst."

"Man, you're pessimistic," LuHan rolled his eyes. "OK. I admit, JunMyeon I'm not sure about, but Krystal..." the blond trailed off.

"Who's Krystal?" BaekHyun asked, suddenly a bit lost.

"Ah!," the Chinese captain beamed. "Information they didn't have. They must have been quite surprised when they walked in."

"Chuánzhǎng," Zitao, who was still sitting in the back spoke for the first time since they got on board. "Shouldn't we be going? We can talk after we arrive. And I'm sure we can totally beat them up, with you, SeHun and me." 

JongDae laughed and turned to BaekHyun. "See? This is how we work, we improvise a lot but don't worry, we got this."

Without actually having LuHan ask him, JongDae started the engine and BaekHyun let him. It only took them two minutes to arrive near the spacecraft and the navigator stopped the ship down a rocky hill to hide and figure out how they were going to take the Ariadne back. Time was running out, though, and without being able to reach JunMyeon and Krystal, the situation was quite delicate.

"Any chance Therianthropes have X-ray vision?" ChanYeol asked half joking, but still expected a little.

"Only night vision," SeHun answered seriously and LuHan loved how innocent and straight forward the young alien was.

"What are we all waiting for?" Zitao stepped up, finding all the talking unnecessary. "While chuánzhǎng and I beat the crap out of them, you guys go take care of JunMyeon and Krystal." 

Zitao shrugged as if he was stating the obvious and LuHan couldn't help thinking that as much as his pride and confidence could be the end of him, Zitao was kind of a cute kid. And really strong too.

"OK," LuHan clapped for general attention. "You two stay here to guard the ship," he pointed at ChanYeol and KyungSoo, "but let the engine run, in case we need a speedy escape."

The two men nodded and LuHan nodded back.

"I'm coming with you," BaekHyun said. "This is partly my fault. I will assist you the best I can," she accompanied her words by taking the small gun strapped to her thigh and looked determined. LuHan smiled.

"Right," he turned to the others. "We'll split into three groups then. SeHun with me, we'll go check the deck," he pointed for the boy to stay closely behind him and SeHun immediately did so. "You and BaekHyun," LuHan looked at JongDae, "you'll go down to the engine room and check out the damages. And Zitao, you'll go upstairs and check there," LuHan finished. "We're good?"

Everybody nodded in agreement and started to get out of the ship but LuHan felt SeHun grab the back of his suit tightly.

"Hey," LuHan said gently, turning to the boy. "It's gonna be OK."

He caressed SeHun's cheek and the latter closed his eyes at the touch. He opened his eyes again and smiled, but LuHan could see SeHun was still worried. 

"Promise?"

"Promise," LuHan answered and got on his tip toes to give SeHun a quick peck on the lips. He would've given him a proper kiss but ChanYeol and KyungSoo were still there and they didn't have much time either.

Once out, the small party lurked around and saw in horror how the Ariadne's entrance airlock had been completely blown up.

LuHan had better get a reparation fee out of those bounty hunters.

SeHun's eyes went orange and LuHan stopped him as he and Zitao were about to rush into things blindly again.

"Stick to the plan and stay calm," LuHan's voice was soft but he gave the boys a hard look. JongDae smiled and tapped Zitao's shoulder gently.

They cautiously proceeded to the aircraft and when they got right at the entrance, LuHan and JongDae on each side of the open door, their guns on the ready, the navigator gave a quick nod to his captain and they both listened closely for any sign of danger. Silence filled the dark hall and one by one the five of them got on the ship.

"Where is SeHun?!"

The unknown angry voice came from the kitchen and everybody just ignored the plan and rushed down the narrow hall, bumping and stumbling on each other. LuHan was the fastest, followed closely by Zitao, SeHun and JongDae, and then BaekHyun in last position, but she had the excuse of not knowing the ship's structure so, we're not counting here, it's not a race.

"Where is my little brother?"

That came as quite a shock to the Chinese captain and as if he was on the edge of a cliff the words cut LuHan down in his stride, almost causing a domino fall behind him.
SeHun squeezed himself between Zitao and LuHan to see why they had suddenly stopped and LuHan turned around just in time to see SeHun's dark orbs turn into a mercury grey as the Therianthrope saw the tall stranger lifting poor JunMyeon from the ground.

"Wufan!"

SeHun pushed the captain out of the way to pass, not even sparing a look to his lover and suddenly everything got in slow motion for LuHan as he saw SeHun running towards the tall, golden brown-eyed man.

No. 

LuHan tried to grab SeHun but it was too late, he was already out of his reach and it hurt.
The tall blond just dropped JunMyeon in shock and Krystal decided to show up from the deck just at this moment, like to complicate the situation even more.

"JunMyeon!"

She rushed to him and Zitao did too, eyeing the stranger before fully focusing on JunMyeon. He knocked LuHan down on the way and the blond just let himself drop to the floor.

"SeHun," the Therianthrope's brother said in a low breath and reached out a shaky hand that SeHun immediately took. 

LuHan should've been happy that SeHun found his brother and that they were finally reunited, but he wasn't. He didn't even know why he felt this way and it hurt more than anything.

"Wufan," came out SeHun's soft voice. 

It was like when he called out his name. But not this time.

LuHan felt something in him shatter.

--------------------------

Sorry I'm so late!
But as I said last time, I was drawing fan arts for Kyungsoo and Jongin's birthdays! 
So I hope you forgive me x)
I also hope you liked this chapter!
Thank you for reading and commenting and thank you for your patience!

xoxo~