Chapter 2: Fear Like Fire, Burning

Jimin remembered the first time he’d ever heard about pirates. It had been years ago, before his mother had passed, even before he’d found the Rune of the Canary in the forest. He’d been a mere five years old, too young to listen to such terrible stories, but the other boys in the village had made him stay, refusing to let him leave halfway through the frightening tale of a pirate crew that had stepped ashore on an island somewhere in the south and proceeded onto wiping out every single town there, simply for the fun of it.

It had been one of the older boys, Jihong, who’d told them all about it; being eleven years old himself, he was already allowed to read the newspaper articles and listen to the heated, gruesome discussions of the older men. He would always relay the stories to the younger children, and while Jimin had been fortunate enough to avoid those gatherings by silently slipping away from the village whenever Jihong had that look in his eye, his luck had ran out when Minjoon caught him before he could sneak away to the forest.

The pirate captain’s real name had been something foreign Jihong couldn’t pronounce, but he’d been known on the sea as the Red Plague, so called because it seemed as if wherever he went, death was sure to follow, leaving nothing behind but a trail of red, the blood of his victims marking his path. He had slain more than a thousand innocents, laughing all the while, never quite quenching his thirst for blood, for the rush of the kill. And he’d been quick about it too; when the mariners finally arrived at the island, it was as if a natural disaster had struck, leaving nothing behind but death and destruction.

Apparently, a woman had survived one of his onslaughts, and upon her rescue, they had interviewed her to compile a report to help the mariners on their hunt for the Red Plague, a file that would later find its way to the mainland’s papers, from where it had made available for all the world to read. The injuries she’d sustained in the bloodshed cost her her left arm and leg, scarring her for life both physically and psychologically, and according to Jihong, she had been so traumatized she hadn’t been able to complete the interview without having to be sedated due to a fit of panic.

Before she’d passed out, however, she’d told the interviewers of the horrors she’d witnessed. The Red Plague’s crew had flooded the streets of her town like a tidal wave, unstoppable and vicious, killing everything in their path and leaving everything burning in their wake. She’d watched her children die by sword, had seen her husband’s head cut clean off with an axe, and yet, the worst thing she could remember, she’d said, was the pirate captain’s smile as he dragged her out of hiding and cut open her arm.

She had lost everything that day, everything short of her own life, and it was this thought that rang through Jimin’s head when he heard the sound of the cannons go off for a second time.

Without wasting even a second on grabbing anything to defend himself with, Jimin threw open his door and ran outside, his eyes widening when he saw smoke and fire rising from somewhere in the harbor. “Oh my god,” he breathed out, his voice trembling, high-pitched with panic. “Oh my god, oh my god..!”

He wanted to turn around and make for the meadows behind the village, to cross them until he reached the northern entrance to the forest, where he could hide for days, until every single trace of the invasion was gone, but he couldn’t. He knew he couldn’t, but even so, it took all the willpower he possessed to move his legs closer towards the chaos, stumbling over his own feet as he made for Jihyun’s house.

He slammed his fists against her door as soon as he reached it, frantically beating on the wooden surface. “Jihyun!” he screamed, choking on his own breath when his ears caught the sound of gunfire. “Jihyun, please, open the door, we have to go!”

He pulled the door open as soon as he heard her unlock it, almost throwing it off its hinges and startling her, and he almost broke down in tears when he saw her carrying her youngest grandchild in her arms, a wee girl of three, her older brother clutching Jihyun’s leg. “Jimin,” the old woman rasped, her voice thick from sleep. “Jimin, what’s going on, why-”

“Pirates,” was all he could say, foregoing any and all formalities and reaching out to take her grandson’s hand and pulling him out the door. “We have to go, now! We have to find the others and get to safety!” He reached out to take Jihyun’s hand, forcing himself to be patient and careful with her. “Where’s your son?”

“H-he left the children with me and went home for the night,” she told him, her eyes widening in dread as she took in the sight of the distant fires. “What on earth are pirates doing here ? There’s nothing of value on this island, no reason for them to-”

“It doesn’t matter!” Jimin cut her off, desperately wishing he could sprout wings or heal the old woman’s legs. “It doesn’t matter why, they’re here and we- shit!” A third cannon went off, and the heavy projectile crashed into the church tower, the white stones blasting out of order and shattering under the weight of the cannon ball, causing the entire structure to crumble and break. “Oh god,” Jimin whispered, his throat constricting in sheer terror. “Oh god, Jihyun, what do we do, w-what do I do, ho-how do I get us out of here?”

“Jimin.” She clamped a hand down on his shoulder and leveled him with a firm look, the trust in her eyes greater than her own fear. “You will lead the way, birdie,” she told him, unflinching even when a strained scream erupted from some six houses away. “The others will be gathered up north, as far away from the harbor as possible. You’ll get us there safely, Jimin, I know you will.”

All he could do was nod and force himself to breathe through his terror, swallowing thickly against the wave of nausea that bubbled in his throat. “O-okay,” he said, his voice quivering like a leaf in a storm, but he tightened his grip on both Jihyun and her grandson’s hands and coaxed the two to follow him. “Okay, this way, as quickly as you can!”

They took off, delving into the rows of houses, making sure to stay on the smallest streets, the alleyways in between the tallest buildings to stay out of sight as best they could. Their pace was agonizingly slow, and while Jimin had always thought Jeju Village was small, almost too small, now it felt enormous, as if the streets would never end, stretching out their journey to make it as insufferably long as possible. They were never given even a second of peace, with consistent screaming rising from every direction, their voices terrifyingly familiar, drowned out only by the sounds of gunfire and the distant, maniacal laughter of the invading pirates.

They had already passed four houses when the sense of terror in the pit of Jimin’s stomach intensified as he realized they hadn’t crossed paths with anyone else yet. All around them, they could hear shouts of panic, cries of pain, yet they all seemed to come from closer to the main street. “Why,” he hissed through gritted teeth, twisting his head to look back in the direction whence they came and finding nothing to explain the strangeness. “Why are everyone staying in plain sight on the main street? Why aren’t they trying to hide?”

He realized a second too late that it was definitely not a question he wanted answered, for when they reached the next intersection in their path, a crossing amidst a cluster of houses, a masked man with hair the color of the sun appeared before them as if he’d materialized out of thin air, a long, bloodied sword in his hand.

As if time had slowed down, Jimin watched the man raise his sword to point at them, and the sight triggered something other than fear in him, a thrill of something instinctive racing up his spine and settling in the base of his skull. The feeling shook his body with more force than he’d ever experienced and the sound that made its way past his lips was one he could only connect to anger. The sensation was a need to protect, the urge so overwhelmingly strong it clouded his senses to the point he wasn’t even fully aware of what he was doing when his body moved.

Without hesitating for even a second, Jimin shoved Jihyun’s grandson out of the way and lashed out, the back of his hand smacking against the blade and forcing it away from him and his group. He ignored the flare of pain in his arm when the edge caught on his skin, and while he heard the pirate’s grunt of surprise, he didn’t pause for long enough to see the shock manifest on the man’s face. With a sound almost like an animal, Jimin took a step forward, widened his stance, and drove his fist directly against the pirate’s eye.

His exclaim mingled with that of the invader, feeling like his knuckles had shattered upon impact, and the momentum of his swing almost knocked him off balance, sending him staggering into the wall of the nearest house. “Jimin!” Jihyun shouted shrilly, and he felt a hand on his arm before he could even turn around, pulling him back and away from where the pirate had dropped to his knees, the thin sword falling from his hand as he clutched the side of his face, groaning. “You’re absolutely mad, boy!”

It was probably true, but Jimin didn’t waste any second on lingering to discuss the fact. Instead, he reattached his hold on both Jihyun and her grandson and tugged them along with him, this time not bothering to keep a reasonable pace. Adrenaline was rushing through his veins and he could hear his heart thundering in his ears, and all he could think of was safety, safety for the old woman he loved so dearly, safety for her grandchildren, safety for them and for no one else.

“They’re flanking the main street from the alleys,” he said breathlessly, unsure of whom he was talking to. “I’ve seen animals do it, they herd the prey into a tight spot and attack from the sides to catch them off guard.”

“Wha-what does that mean?” Jihyun asked, her voice strained as she struggled to keep up.

“That everyone else will be gathered near the town center.” He wasn’t quite sure what to do with that piece of information, seeing as there was absolutely nothing he could do about it; he couldn’t fight off the pirates on his own, he couldn’t warn the rest of the villagers without giving away his and Jihyun’s family’s position. There was nothing he could do apart from continuing north, praying to whatever gods were listening that they’d make it out alive.

He shut his ears on the deafening sound of crackling timber and shattering glass, fighting against the image of his village’s destruction with every fiber of his being. We’ll make it, we will, he chanted inwardly, filling his own head with the words and rejecting everything else, every scream, every gunshot, every explosion, every bloodcurdling ring of a sword. We’ll make it out alive, all of us, we’ll survive and wait out the attack and-

“Granny, look!”

Jimin’s heart nearly leaped out of his chest and the sound of Jihyun’s grandson’s voice. He looked down and found the boy pointing towards an alley they just passed, and while Jimin would’ve rather died right on the spot than turn back and find out whatever it was the child had seen, a voice erupted from the alley, the familiarity of it making him want to sing. “Jimin?”

Never in all his life did he think he’d ever be so relieved to hear Minjoon’s voice. “Oh, thank god,” he croaked and skid to a halt, standing upright only for long enough to see the young hunter come rushing out of the narrow street; as soon as Jimin saw him, the adrenaline in his veins burned out and he dropped onto the ground, his hands and knees taking the impact. “We’re safe..!”

“Jimin, what- father!” Minjoon turned around and beckoned someone from the alley he’d emerged from, and Jimin’s relief intensified tenfold at the sight of Jeju Village’s mayor rushing out onto the street, flanked by several of other familiar faces. He almost wanted to cry; surely they were safe now, safe in the hands of the town’s sworn protector. “Father, it’s Choi Kwang’s old lady and his children,” the young hunter said and sent Jimin an odd glance. “And the canary.”

In any other situation, Jimin might’ve taken offense from his apprehension, but not now, not today, not when he had crossed half a village under siege by pirates and lived. “Ta-take the children,” he wheezed, his voice thin with delirious exhaustion. “And Jihyun, he-her legs, I… I had to make her run, we, there was a pirate…” His voice trailed off and he shook his head, his thoughts too clustered to form a single, coherent one. “They’re flanking the main street,” he managed after drawing several lungfuls of air. “The others, they… they’re still…”

He couldn’t bring himself to say it; it was too awful to even imagine, to imagine everyone he knew being rounded up like a herd of livestock, ready for slaughter.

“We’ll take Jihyun and the children to safety,” the mayor said and motioned for the others to help the old woman. “But we can’t move in this big of a group, or we’ll risk giving up our position. Minjoon…” There was a brief pause, a silent exchange of looks between father and son, and when Jimin raised his head, he saw the young hunter nod resolutely. “Take care of the bird.”

“Yes, father.” Before Jimin could do more than knit his brow in confusion, Minjoon walked over to him and pulled him upright, and without allowing him to catch his breath or regain his balance, let alone spare him a single glance, the hunter broke off into a run, dragging Jimin along with him onto a street leading west.

“W-wait, Minjoon,” Jimin stuttered, feeling that uninvited hint of dread in the depths of his chest. He craned his head to look back and saw Jihyun be held up by the mayor and a man he recognized as the shopkeeper, and the sight would’ve given him comfort if not for the look the old woman sent back at him, mirroring his confused worry. “W-what about everyone else?” Jimin asked, the distant shouts everpresent. “We can’t just leave everyone else, we have to-”

“It’ll be fine,” the hunter clipped him off, not a shred of conviction in his voice. “I know what I’m doing, just focus on running, canary.”

Jimin parted his lips, not to protest, but to ask what on earth it was Minjoon was doing, but the grip on his arm tightened almost as if in warning, and a completely new kind of dread rose in his chest and made him hold his tongue. Suddenly, he felt just as afraid as he had upon the first cannon’s release, and no matter how hard he tried to convince himself that the hunter was probably scared out of his wits, just like he was, he couldn’t rid himself of the building ominousness. He contemplated raising his voice again, more carefully this time, but before he could even reach a decision, a sound like a small bomb going off somewhere close had them both recoiling out of fright.

“Fuck!” Minjoon spat when he recovered and instantly took off again, slipping into a side-street and dragging a still shocked Jimin behind him. Every single cell in Jimin’s body was screaming in terror as he watched another pillar of smoke rise towards the heavens, it’s base red with flames. “Can’t you move any fucking faster, we have to get there as quickly as we can!”

“G-get where?” Jimin squeaked, and if he’d paid attention to anything but the rising fires, he might’ve noticed the direction in which they were running, but he couldn’t. He couldn’t tear his eyes off the sight of bright flames reaching for the night sky, roaring as they chased away the stars. “W-where are we going, Minjoon?”

For the second time that night, Jimin realized too late that it was not a question he wanted answered. All of a sudden, the two of them emerged from the safety of the narrow alleys and out onto the main street, and Jimin felt his heart stop dead in his chest at the sight presented to him.

The entire harbor had been destroyed. The church tower was gone and the lighthouse had been levelled with the ground, dust and flames rising from the ruins to illuminate the darkness of the night. Several houses had been bombarded to pieces, cracked wood and debris lying scattered all across the street, and the air was thick with the scent of gunpowder, of burning timber, and, undoubtedly, death.

Jimin had never felt as weak as he did when his eyes found the first body. It was the man who owned the tavern, lying face down in the dirt, a pool of blood forming underneath his abdomen. He didn’t move, not an inch, but his eyes were open, staring unblinking into the ground. “Oh god,” Jimin breathed, his voice cracking pitifully, and he tried to look away, he turned his face away from the corpse, but all that served was to show him another, then a third, until all he could see was death.

In his terror, he turned his eyes to the sea for salvation, but all he saw was the silhouette of the vessel that had brought the tidal wave of death to their shores, the dreadful pirate ship.

He felt his knees fold under his weight, but Minjoon held him up, cursing under his breath as he dragged Jimin towards the devastated harbor, and Jimin was too caught up in his horror to realize, staring into the ground and wishing it could save him, that it could make it all go away. He couldn’t bear to watch what transpired around him, it was too terrible, he did not want to look, but then the young hunter raised his voice and called out, “Pirates!” and Jimin’s blood froze in his veins.

Slowly, very slowly, he raised his head, and somewhere in the back of his mind, he wondered how afraid a human being could be before it consumed their life and left them dead.

Surely, as he found himself standing before the invading pirates, he was on the cusp of that thin line, balancing on the verge of certain death.

They looked like monsters, every single one of them. Their bodies were rougher than any Jimin had ever seen in the village, tall and heavy with raw strength, their limbs covered in paint and ink and scars. Their hands carried weapons of all sorts, swords, daggers, cutlasses, axes, chains, pistols, and every single one of the blades were caked with blood, not a single clean surface remaining. Their faces were dreadful, portraying not a shred of mercy or empathy, only hunger, ravenous and insatiable, as if the destruction in their wake had done nothing to slake their need for death.

They were monsters, and they were all looking at him.

“Pirates!” Minjoon shouted again, jarring Jimin out of the prison of his crippling dread. “We have nothing of value to offer you here! This is a poor village on a poor island, with no treasure to speak of!”

“What are you doing, Minjoon?!” Jimin hissed, his voice like a whistle, and he tried to retreat, to stagger backwards and away from the crew of pirates, but the young hunter’s grip on his arm was iron. “We’re going to die, Minjoon, what have you done, you-”

“All we have are our lives,” Minjoon carried on, and his voice was cold as ice as he jerked his arm forward, tugging Jimin along with it and causing him to lose his balance and fall onto the ground, “so if what you seek is something precious, take the canary!”

Jimin crashed onto his side on the ground, hard, his shoulder and waist taking a painful impact against the rough surface, but he hardly even realized he’d fallen. His ears were ringing with the hunter’s words, blood rushing to his brain in an attempt to process them, to comprehend the words that couldn’t be true, that couldn’t have been real. Surely, he’d misheard. Surely, Minjoon hadn’t said what he thought he’d heard.

“The boy carries the powers of a Blessed Rune!” His words were like a gunshot in Jimin’s ears, a knife through his heart, a sword through his abdomen. “He’s more valuable than anything you’ll find in this village!” the hunter shouted, his voice trembling with his own fear. “T-take him and leave the rest of us be!”

Jimin couldn’t move. He couldn’t feel, he couldn’t breathe, he couldn’t even see, his vision blurring either from tears or an impending loss of sense. All he could do was lie there, his blood racing in his ears and rendering him deaf to Minjoon’s words, the words that discarded him as if he was nothing more than a piece of cargo to be used for negotiation. He felt like the ground beneath him was crumbling, splitting open to rob him of even the security of the earth.

“A Blessed Rune, you say?” The voice jerked him back to reality and his head snapped up, a quivering exhale finding its way past his lips as he found one of the pirates standing above him, leaning forward with his head inclined in a curious manner. The man was smiling, but there was little warmth to it, an almost sardonic curl of his lips. “Didn’t expect to find one of them out here,” he mused, his voice a deep rumble that seemed to reverberate through Jimin’s very bones, and the pirate offered him a sharp grin before straightening up and turning to the rest of the crew. “You reckon the captain could use a scrawny kid like this?”

“Look at the boy, Joon, he’s damn near pissin’ himself,” another one of them answered with a dry scoff, his voice thick with a foreign accent. “He’d shit himself the second he saw the cap’n.”

“Speaking from personal experience, are you, Xiao?” the first pirate quipped, earning himself a buzz of snickering from the others, and he was still smiling when he turned back to look at Jimin, who recoiled, bracing his hands against the ground to push himself up onto his knees so he could back away. “What’s your blessing, kid?”

Jimin parted his lips but nothing came out, not even his breath, his airways clogged with dread, his vocal cords rendered useless. His eyes darted from the pirate’s face to the bloodied twin swords at his waist, the red liquid still fresh and dripping from the steel surface, and the sight triggered a fresh wave of nausea in Jimin’s throat. When his eyes returned to the man’s face, his heart sank when he found a hint of impatience there, and he tried, he really tried to speak, but his voice was lost, his lips moving around nothing but air.

“You leave that boy be!”

Jimin turned his head so fast it hurt his neck, and the fear for his own life was promptly replaced with an almost painful sense of dread as he watched Jihyun limp her way towards them, holding a piece of debris, a stick of wood in her hands like a weapon. Dimly, Jimin noticed the mayor and another few villagers behind her, but they all froze the second their eyes landed on the pirates. “Jihyun,” he croaked, his voice barely above a whisper, “no, Jihyun, go away, please..!”

“You leave him be!” the old woman repeated shrilly and waved the stick in the direction of the pirate who was standing over Jimin, as if she couldn’t see the swords at his waist, the blades that could’ve easily cut through both her and her makeshift weapon. “You pirate scum have no business here! There is nothing for you here, least of all that boy, so back away and fuck off where you came from!”

“Jihyun, stop!” Jimin pleaded, gesturing wildly for her to not come any closer, to stay away, to run. Behind him, the pirates were laughing, and he realized the only reason they hadn’t killed the woman yet was because of the amusement they found in her behavior. “Please, Jihyun, go, d-don’t come any closer, I-”

“No no, let the hag say what’s on her mind,” one of the pirates barked, breaking out of the crowd and walking up to meet Jihyun halfway, an almost maniacal grin twisting his face. “Let’s hear it then, lady, tell us why we shouldn’t take your precious little boy.”

Even in the face of death, Choi Jihyun didn’t hesitate. “I just told you, boy,” she spat, her voice laced with venom, “or are you as deaf as you are foolish? There’s nothing for you here, scum, nothing your filthy hands are worth touching!” She jutted the end of her stick against the pirate’s chest, forcing him to take a step back. “You return to your ship and sail it away from here, and never return to these shores unless it’s in a casket, where your sorry arse belongs!”

Jimin wanted to cry.

While the laughter of the invaders escalated, the pirate’s grin twitched and curdled, and Jimin had never moved as fast in all his life as he did just then. He saw the man reach for his sword, and before he knew it, he had staggered to his feet and broken off into a run, his paralyzing fear all but forgotten. “ Don’t!” he screamed as he watched the pirate raise his blade, and he threw himself in between the two with his arms raised, screwing his eyes shut and bracing himself for the pain to come, for his death.

It never came. There was no pain, no trace of steel on his skin, only the near deafening sound of metal meeting metal, the clash emitting a shrill ring that caused Jimin to recoil so violently he almost backed right into Jihyun and knocked her to the ground, his eyes flying open in alarm. “Wha-”

All air left his lungs at the sight of the newcomer, a tall, masked man with hair the color of of the sun. He had parried the pirate’s sword with his own, stopping the blade barely three inches shy of Jimin’s face as easily as if the weight of the pirate’s strike was as light as paper, and in the shock that followed, the blonde man took his time to turn his face to send a brief glance at Jimin, whose heart sank upon the sight of his bruised cheek, the mark courtesy of Jimin’s instinctive strike back in the narrow alley.

The pirate who’d taken a swing at Jihyun was quick to retreat, his eyes wide as he stared at the man who’d interfered, nearly dropping his own sword in his hurry to lower it. “Fuck,” he hissed and backed away, bowing his head in apology, “I-I’m sorry, sir, I-”

“I’ve told you to stop waving that thing around so carelessly, my man,” the newcomer sing-songed, his voice unbelievably deep, every single syllable laced with amusement, and when he turned to fully face Jimin, he looked like he was smiling underneath the plain, black mask. “You’re the one who punched me, aren’t you? Back there.”

He gestured towards the eastern houses, quirking a curious brow when Jimin only gaped at him in response, utterly stunned. He didn’t seem to mind the silence he was met with and took his time to take in Jimin’s appearance, his gaze trailing down his front before returning to his face, and when Jimin still couldn’t produce a single sound, he turned to look at Minjoon, who’d been standing perfectly still ever since he’d shoved Jimin onto the ground before the pirates. “Who are you?” the blonde man asked of him. “His friend?”

“He’s scum, that’s what he is!” Jihyun barked shrilly, and the newcomer emitted an amused snort.

Jimin was dimly aware of the fact that the rest of the pirates had gone very quiet. “I-I’m the son of this village’s mayor,” Minjoon declared, the stutter in his voice betraying his fear. “I, we, we offer you that boy as tribute for you to take a-as payment for leaving this village and its people unharmed.” He swallowed thickly, squirming under the man’s unblinking gaze. “H-he’s infused with the Rune of the Canary, he… there’s nothing of value in this town. He, he’s more precious than anything you could find here.”

The blonde man hummed at that, an outdrawn, oh, and he nodded to himself before turning back to Jimin, who instinctively positioned himself to better shield Jihyun. “That’d explain your reflexes from earlier,” he said and reached up to tap a finger against the bruise that had blossomed across his cheek. “Is that true, what that guy says? Are you,” he gestured vaguely at Jimin, “their, uh, tribute?”

Jimin had no idea what to say, what he should say. The blonde man was asking him to confirm whether or not he’d just been offered up as sacrifice without warning, to agree with the fact that made him feel so empty, so alone in his terror, so betrayed and so utterly devastated he couldn’t even remember what happiness meant. He wanted to scream, the howling in his chest so overwhelming he felt like he could die.

“He is not!” He startled when Jihyun shoved him out of the way, curling her fingers around his arm to pull him in behind her. “You will not lay a finger on him,” she hissed and pointed a quivering digit at the blonde man, who only inclined his head in response. “He’s not some piece of meat to be thrown to the pack of wolves when they come barking! If you want someone, take him!” She sent a scathing glare at Minjoon, who flinched as if the words had struck him. “Like he said, he’s the mayor’s son! Aren’t those the ones you pirates capture, children of royal blood to demand ransom for?”

“Well, sure,” the man said, and there was that amused undertone to his voice again, “when there’s actually a ransom to be demanded. Didn’t you just say there’s nothing of value on this entire island?”

“That’s-”

“Yes, that’s right!” The prospect of being taken instead of Jimin had seemingly frightened Minjoon within an inch of his life; he looked positively maniacal as he bulled over Jihyun’s words. “All we have are farms, and spring has only just arrived,” he said loudly and threw a hand out to the side, gesturing in the general direction of the tilled lands beyond the village’s northern border. “We’ve almost nothing left of our winter stock, and the new crops haven’t sprouted yet! This island is poor! All we have is the canary!”

Jimin had never felt a pain like this. Not when he’d broken his arm, not when he’d cut his foot on a rock in the creek, not even when he’d accidentally eaten a poisonous berry and spent three weeks in his bed, teetering on the verge of death. No, this pain came from the depths of his heart, all-consuming and inescapable, and all he could do to hold onto his sanity was to cling to Jihyun, his Jihyun, the old lady who was waving a wooden stick in the face of a pirate and his crew.

“This is taking too long, Tae.” It was the pirate who’d first addressed Jimin who spoke, impatience now clear in his voice. “The captain will be wondering where we are,” he said and flicked his head towards the shore, where the grand ship was waiting. “We have our orders, but it’s up to you. Either take the boy, or kill him and raze the village.”

The blonde man nodded before turning his eyes on Jimin, and he knew, he knew what his decision was, he could see it on his face as if someone had carved the answer into his skin.

He had to go.

“Don’t you dare,” Jihyun started, but Jimin reached around her and took hold of her wrist before she could raise the stick on the pirate. “Jimin, what-”

“It’s okay, Jihyun,” he said, and whereas his entire body felt numb, every movement costing more than what he felt he could give, his voice was steady, albeit monotonous and void of emotions. “It’s okay, it’s alright, I’ll… I’ll go with them.”

He had to go. For her sake, he had to go.

Jimin stepped around her and put his hands on her delicate shoulders, giving his all to keep his arms from trembling. “It’ll be okay,” he told her. “I’ll go, and you… you and your son and your grandchildren will be alright. You’ll live.”

“Birdie, no,” she breathed, her eyes wide in fear, and when she reached up to cup his cheek, he couldn’t help it, he couldn’t keep it in. He choked on a sob and squeezed his eyes shut, biting his lip hard enough to draw blood. It hurt, he was in so much pain, but there was nothing else he could do. “Birdie, you can’t do this, you can’t go with them, you-”

“I will,” he interrupted, shaking his head to ward off her words. “I’ll go with them, and you, you’ll live and you’ll be fine, and you’ll look after my mom, right? You’ll watch over her grave a-and make sure it’s okay, and…” He forced himself to lean away from her touch. “You’ll live,” he whispered and smiled, and it must’ve looked as heartbroken as he felt, for Jihyun was crying now, tears trailing heavy down her aged cheeks. “As long as I know you’ll live, I’ll go wherever they want me to.”

It took all the strength he possessed to take his hands off her shoulders and turn around, swallowing his devastated sorrow as he faced the blonde pirate. “I’ll come with you,” he said, pushing through the crack in his voice. “I’ll come as this village’s tribute, as long as you leave the rest of it unharmed.”

The man nodded promptly at that, his eyes crinkling in the corners as if he was smiling underneath the mask. “Perfect,” he crooned and turned to his fellow pirates. “You heard him, we’re done here! Back to the ship! Joonie, we’re missing five of ours, go find them and drag their ass back to the Agust.”

He glanced back at Jimin and looked like he was about to say something, but the sound of a relieved chuckle pulled his attention to Minjoon. The young hunter was smiling where he stood, looking so immensely satisfied he could barely stand, and Jimin felt hatred rear its head inside his chest. Before he could do more than glare at the man, however, the blonde pirate took three swift steps towards Minjoon, and without a word, he drove the tip of his sword right into the hunter’s foot.

The scream that rose from Minjoon’s throat was deafening, terrible and anguished, but all Jimin did was look, unflinching, at the man who had thrown him away in favor of his own life. He watched the young hunter’s spine curl in pain, he watched the muscles of his arms and neck strain prominently against his skin as he heaved, he watched blood seep from his foot onto the ground, and he felt nothing.

“You know,” the blonde pirate said almost casually as he twisted the sword slowly, as if he couldn’t hear the pained howl Minjoon emitted, “you seem like a real fuckin’ pain in the ass, mister.” He emitted a theatrical little sigh and leaned more of his weight onto the hilt of his sword, his eyes studying the hunter’s form as the blade sank deeper. “I think I’m doing everyone here a favor by taking you down a peg or two.” He lowered his head until he could speak directly into Minjoon’s ear. “If your tribute hadn’t already accepted, I’d tear your guts out your ass and choke you with ‘em.”

A moment of absolute silence followed his words, and then, with an almost childlike chuckle, the pirate straightened up and yanked the sword out of Minjoon’s foot, sweeping it in a sharp arch to the side to send the hunter’s blood splattering against the ground. “Alright, then,” he chimed and grabbed Jimin’s arm, his grip much gentler than expected as he coaxed him into walking. “Time to go, friend! We gotta go see the captain and ask what to do with you.”

“Birdie, Jimin, don’t, don’t do this,” Jihyun pleaded, tears streaming down her face as she tried to grab ahold of his hand, her fingers slipping on the sleeve of his shirt. “You don’t know what they’ll do with you, you can’t-”

“No,” Jimin said and gently pried her fingers away from his arm, “but I know what they’ll do with you if I don’t go.” He squeezed her hands tightly, taking a moment to memorize how they felt in his, the aged limbs, wrinkly and bony, the hands he’d never get to hold again. “Live,” he whispered when he finally had to let her go. “Live, Jihyun, and be happy.”

With that, he dropped her hands and turned around, shutting his ears to the sobs of his friend as he walked away, swallowing the cries his own heart wanted to give voice to. He let himself be led towards the harbor by the blonde pirate, keeping his eyes trained on the ship so that he wouldn’t have to see the bodies that littered the edges of the main street, faces he would recognize if he looked.

“I’ll tell you right now that the captain’s got a really foul temper,” the blonde pirate said almost cheerfully as he tugged Jimin towards the shore, where three large dinghies were floating peacefully on the water. “He’s not bad, really, but he tends to act before he thinks when he’s angry, so try your best to, well, to not make him angry.”

Jimin gave a numb nod, not quite sure what it was he was agreeing to; the pirate’s words were oddly distant in his ears, as if he was speaking through a veil of water. As he was sat down in one of the dinghies and instantly surrounded by half of the group who’d attacked his village, all he could think about were the stories he’d heard during his life, about the ruthlessness of pirates, their complete lack of empathy, how they wouldn’t hesitate to do just about anything that came to their minds. If they wanted to burn Jimin alive, they would do it. If they wanted to peel the skin off his flesh, they would do it.

I’m going to die, Jimin realized as the rowboat left the shore and started its trek towards the grand ship. There will be nothing but pain for me here, and eventually, death.

“If you’re gonna throw up, do it over the edge.” The blonde pirate’s voice startled him out of his horrible thoughts, and when he looked up, he saw the man had removed his mask. He was young, probably not much older than Jimin, with sun-kissed skin and sharp features, and his lips were stretched in amusement, a rectangular grin that displayed every last one of his white teeth. “No one’s going to wanna clean your vomit from their clothes,” he crooned, chuckling as if there was something inherently funny about the thought. “I think Xiao would throw you into the sea if he had to wash his shirt again.”

While the other pirates chortled at the joke, Jimin silently thought he’d be better off at the bottom of the sea than sitting squeezed in between seven heartless murderers.

By the time they reached the ship, Jimin’s terror was back in full force, clawing at his chest as if it were alive inside of him. The vessel was enormous, the dark wood of its hull glistening from the ocean spray, and open gunports flanked the sides of the sturdy ladder leading up to the deck, displaying the iron mouths of the cannons that had fired and destroyed most of the village’s harbor.

“After me,” the blonde pirate said and flicked his hand in a beckoning motion before making his way up the ladder, climbing expertly as if he’d done it a hundred times. Which he probably had, and then some. Jimin followed as quickly as he could, his fingers trembling as he gripped the slick rungs of the ladder, concentrating on not falling, and much too soon, he reached the deck and climbed up onto the rail.

The ship was full of life, with loud voices sounding left and right, with pirates moving back and forth across the deck to prepare for their departure. There was laughter, singing, irked shouts for someone to get out of the way. Orders were being called out from somewhere around the mizzen mast, where the sails were being released by two deckhands balancing on the topgallant.

“Yoongi,” the blonde pirate called and took Jimin’s arm, effectively tearing his attention away from a slender man who was hanging upside down from the shrouds some ten meters up in the air, holding a lantern above his head as he studied the underside of the crow’s nest. Jimin followed the pirate’s gaze, his eyes landing on two men standing by the quarterdeck rail, one of them familiar from the village, the other a stranger, his back to Jimin as he conversed with his crewman. “I brought you something real special!”

The captain turned to look at them, and Jimin’s heart sank like a stone.

Even in the black of night, he recognized the man with ease, having seen his face countless of times over the past year and a half, those hauntingly dark eyes that had stared back at him from the detailed sketch of the bounty poster nailed to the wall of Jeju Village’s inn. He was dressed all in black, befitting of his name, a sturdy vest over a loose poet’s shirt, with a long and heavy coat hanging off his shoulders, its hood pulled up over his jet-black hair to shield his face, as if even the faint moonlight was too strong for his eyes.

“This is the part where I’d introduce you to my captain,” the blonde pirate said with a cheerful lilt to his voice as he studied Jimin’s expression. “But I’m gonna venture a guess and say you already know who he is.”

Of course Jimin knew who he was. How could he not? There wasn’t a single human being in the east who hadn’t heard his name, who hadn’t seen the face of the man who had single handedly taken on half a fleet of mariner warships and left it sinking in the sea, the man who’d destroyed an entire naval base to free one of his captured crewmen. The man who had killed the eastern emperor’s eldest son when he had been foolish enough to try his luck in hunting down the infamous captain.

“Min Yoongi,” Jimin breathed, his voice barely audible even to his own ears, but the pirate captain seemed to have heard him just fine, his dark eyes falling to meet Jimin’s. “The Black Fox of the East.”