Seonghwa
Stephanie and Flo eventually left back into the city, but we stayed docked there. I went to Hongjoong's cabin to confront him about what he exactly had planned but when I walked in I saw him standing face to face with Yunho, with blood flowing down Yunho's nose.
"What the fuck is going on?" I asked, shoving Hongjoong to the side to grab Yunho's face. I wiped the blood face him face, worry striking my heart.
Yunho's eyes went to Hongjoong's in question and Hongjoong clicked his tongue. "Give us t'e room, Yunho. And get some water." Hongjoong's fist squeezed over something and Yunho left the room to us.
"Tell me what the fuck that was!" I snapped at him, grabbing his collar.
He stared at me for a minute before holding up a marble of pure light. I stared at it, feeling the energy radiating from the little ball, how I felt like it was calling to me- whispering to me-
"It be t'e same magic in ye, so-" He closed his fist, breaking the trance I was in. "I found t'is a while back in one of t'e cities, tis magic, just like t'e ones lightin' up t'is city. I gave it t' Yunho t' look into and see if he could learn anytin' about it. He wanted some tools here so I found some for him. W'at I didn't know was t'at he was handling it himself. It's pure magic, it was makin' him sick."
"And you just let him have it-"
"Before we started t'e blame game," He ripped my hand off him. "He be t'e only one smart enough t' figure t'is out. He could do it." He kept his hold on my hand and then forced it open before placing the marble in my palm. The feeling ran through my veins, pure power.
"Why'd ye take it?" I asked as I stared at it.
His touch left me like I had stung him and he simply answered, "It reminded me of ye." I looked up at him in surprise. "Ye can handle it, Yeosang could handle t'is, MM could. T'e ot'ers? T'ey're t'o human. It be a lot of energy t' have runnin' inside ye. It be pure power, Seonghwa. So much can be done wit' it instead of being shoved in some fuckin' lamp!"
"What's the point in having power?" I asked.
"We face danger all t'e time, yer tellin' me t'at ye wouldn't want a guarantee t'at we were safe? It ain't greed, it be safety." He replied, his eyes willing me to understand.
"The same goal as always, to protect us." I muttered as I stared at the silver glowing light.
"Not much scares me, Seonghwa. T'is-" He grabbed the bead, holding it up for me. "Magic, witches...it ruined my life. Why? Because I wanted t' do a good t'ing? I wanted t' help a tortured woman and she saw t'at as weakness? Because I wanted t' help a fuckin' child and she saw my naivety? We can change t'ings. She gave us access, so we use it. I'm not goin' t' apologize for savin' a victim from dyin' in t'e same alley her abusers did. I won't apologize for tryin' t' give a child a better life t'an wit' a bunch of pedophiles and rapists. But I can make it where t'at be normal, t'at wantin' t' do better and be better in t'is world be normal and it be encouraged. I'm tired of hurtin' ot'ers because of good intentions. I want a new world."
"We do this, we do it right. Yunho does not directly touch the bead again-"
"Agreed." He confirmed.
"What are we trying to build, Hongjoong?" I asked.
"W'atever Yunho wants. He be smart, and he has goals. He be so fuckin' smart-"
"I know." I smiled at him slightly, I hated that I did, that I felt a fraction of softness for him in this moment, that I felt like things were good because I could smile at his passion and love for Yunho.
"He can do t'is. W'atever he wants, and I'll provide him wit' it all." He finished.
"Stephanie is fighting a war."
"Aye."
"We both know that it's not just the government against the people. Something is coming. Aviana is coming." I said, watching a darkness overcome his features.
"MM knows more about it-"
"What do you know?" I pushed.
"I know t'at t'e only t'ing she has ever cared about was magic. T'at from t'e very beginning, she does everyt'in she does for t'e future and survival of magic. She created failures and t'ey burned out quickly, so she found me, ruined bot' her daughter and I, just t' create a witch t'at would last, just for t'at not t' be t'e witch she wanted. Her daughter be strong, but she ain't strong enough t' do w'at she wants."
"What does she want?!"
"W'at all witches want!" He chuckled, "T' fuckin' die! T' live for t'at long? All immortals want a way out, witches cannot die easily because t'eir magic cannot die. It's pure energy, and energy can't be destroyed, it can only be transferred. She needs someone strong enough t' give her magic t'. She needs t' continue t'e line. Maybe she do be burnin' out, and if her body can't keep containing t'at power, it will be a fuckin' bomb. MM has lasted wit' her amount of magic, if anyt'in was added? She'd explode."
"How has none others done the same? MM said most witches burned out, did they also not explode like a bomb?" I asked.
"A few did. Plagues, natural disasters occurred. The others... a lot of them have their own endings. Aviana was disappointed in MM, t'ought she was a disappointment so she created an army. T'ey were wild, dying beasts, greedy, ugly... t'ey turned on each ot'er. Hunted ot'ers for sport. A witch can kill anot'er witch. A witch can take anot'ers magic, and render t'em useless. Kill them."
"Are t'ere-"
"MM has been busy over t'e past t'ree hundred years. She was imprisoned because she was deemed unstable...dangerous. Aviana still wants someone worth it, she wants someone she can die for."
"And they will be...as strong as her?"
"Stronger. Just as she became stronger t'an her maker. T'ey will become more t'an anyt'in we've seen."
"Could you become a witch?" I asked. "Are you what she's looking for?"
"She ruined me for a greater purpose, I was not'in but a pawn her game." He said.
I didn't know what this was, what we were, but there would always be understanding. My hate was dissolving and it was fucking frustrating.
San
It had been almost a year since I had one of my episodes, stumbling to the kitchen in the middle of the night to vomit my guts up. It was violent like always, feeling like my stomach was being coughed into the bucket, feeling like my ribs would break inside me, like my whole body would fucking explode as it fell apart from the inside out. There was never anything in my stomach, not enough to vomit like I did, but I emptied it all out anyway.
Like always, dread ate away at me, feelings haunting me and making the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. I felt it in my gut, felt it for Wooyoung and my girls. Something horrible was going to happen to them, I knew it in my heart and it wrecked me. Fear, dread, agony, it all wrecked me through and through.
I sobbed into the bucket, shaking violently as I did.
***
I found Wooyoung in the morning, prepping to make breakfast for the crew. "It ain't ready yet."
"I can't let ye guys leave." I breathed, he gave me a glance before going back to his work.
"Let us? Are we prisoner?" He asked, setting up the dishes as he kept his head down.
"Wooyoung...I have...something bad is going to-"
"T'is again? Seriously?" He stopped what he was doing to glare at me.
"I'm telling you the truth! All I know is that it's directed at ye and the girls." He scoffed. "Ye don't believe me?" The same wound reopened in my heart.
"Do I believe t'at ye suddenly got a bad feelin' after I told ye t'at t'e t'ree of us are leavin'? What? Yer gut be really good at knowin' when t' pop back up?" He scoffed.
"Maybe it's because ye guys are leaving, maybe it's because I can't protect you!" I pleaded.
"So, I'm stuck here? T'at be w'at ye tellin' me? I can't leave ye even if I fucking want t', be t'at w'at yer tellin' me?!"
"I can't keep ye three safe if yer're gone!"
"We can take care of ourselves. T'ank ye. I have t' finish breakfast, if t'ere ain't not'in left-" He gestured for the door.
I walked up to him, grabbing his hand and he tensed from the contact. "Just...stay here until whatever passes."
"From w'at yer're tellin' me, San, if I ever leave ye, it will never pass. Gut feelin' or not, I'm not goin' t' be stuck here. I am fully capable of protectin' myself, I survived eighteen years before I met ye all just fine, I survived half a year wit' t'ose kids wit'out ye. No problems until yer sorry ass came back home. I am givin' ye time t' say goodbye, fuckin' take it and let us go."
"Yer're my family."
"It doesn't feel like it. Right now, it feels like I'm stuck."
We stared at each other for a long minute, my heart felt like it was being beaten brutally over and over again. He broke eye contact first, going back to his task.