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atinytokki · 5 years

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𝐀𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐨 𝐙𝐞𝐫𝐨

Chapter 10: Maddox

Hongjoong took a right turn and then a left turn and then the path was a straight shot. His speed from before slowed to a more cautious pace as he took in his surroundings.

The sun was quickly sinking, and he wasn’t sure whether he had simply lost track of time or the fog was making it seem lower than it was. His hand gravitated to the gun at his side and remained there, ready to brandish it the first sign of trouble.

Through the mist, the shape of a building came into view. Hongjoong hadn’t noticed it before, but again he wasn’t sure if it was him or the tall bushes of the maze concealing the walls behind them. The end of the path became the entry to a courtyard of stone, cool and slightly damp to the touch. The wrought iron gate was swung wide open, so the Captain tied the end of his rope to it and walked through.

It was noticeably bare for a courtyard, but the towering fort it led to was impressive. Hongjoong made his way to a wooden door that led inside and, finding it to be unlocked, took one last look around and entered.

The hall he crept into was as dark and cold as the space outside, but Hongjoong could see a warm light emitting from the crack of a doorway on the other side of the wing. He made his way over silently and sidled up to the door, tilting his head until he could see a sliver of the inside with his eye.

There were three people seated at a table laughing heartily, pints of grog splayed out in front of them. As one of them sat back in his chair, Hongjoong recognised the crest on his uniform.

The Royal Navy.

He gasped and began to back away from the door, trying to grab it as it opened a little too far. Holding his breath, he kept his eye trained on the man facing his direction whose shirt he had seen.

Sure enough, the soldier’s smile faded and he quietly asked the other men, “Did you hear a noise just now?”

Both soldiers looked around, and Hongjoong debated whether to make a break for it and give away his position or sneak off and hope they didn’t come looking.

“It’s just a draft. You forgot to shut the courtyard door again, didn’t you?” One of the men responded and the first soldier rolled his eyes and stood. Realising he was going to close off his exit, Hongjoong ducked into the nearest corridor and pressed himself to the wall.

He could see the man approach, shut the courtyard door, and return to the room with the table, closing the door behind him. Hongjoong exhaled through his nose and looked around him. There was a staircase leading to a second floor.

The young captain sighed and pulled out Eden’s map. Apart from a few spots for islands in the west, one island with an X marked on it, and Eden’s bird symbol, the map was empty. It hadn’t warned about the Doldrums and it didn’t help with the island they were on currently, but Hongjoong knew there was more to it than initially meets the eye. He just didn’t know how to read it yet.

Realising he didn’t have many options now, he ascended the stairs in front of him, hoping for a window he could climb out of and return to the courtyard. If the Navy had truly taken over this island, it was unquestionably safer to leave before they were discovered and hope they would find clues somewhere else. The rewards for turning each of them in dead or alive were accumulating on their heads every day.

Hongjoong’s eyes stung at the thought of missing something important and losing their chance to find Eden, but he knew in his gut that he couldn’t risk the lives of his crew— his friends.

The staircase made a sudden turn and then opened up into a large room. Bookcases lined the walls, illuminated by soft candlelight. There were wooden tables in the center of the room, empty and dust covered, and as Hongjoong gazed up he could see a spiral iron staircase on the far side of the room that led to a balcony lining the ceiling.

His breath was snatched away at the sight of so many books in one place. This beautiful, untouched room was just lying here for him to discover when he needed information? It was too fortunate a coincidence to pass up, and after another prudent scan of the area to make sure he was truly alone, Hongjoong ran to the nearest bookcase and started skimming titles.

The young captain quickly surmised that the books were organised by subject, of which there was a plethora. As tempted as he was to delve into an analysis of artistic renditions of the previous century’s most famous flagship, he tried to narrow his search to materials directly relevant to their current voyage, keen not to waste time and risk being caught.

He had made his way around the room and the balcony with no luck when he plopped down on a wooden chair and glanced out the nearest window. The sun was already setting, and none of the other officers had appeared. Hongjoong began to worry that they had gotten stuck in the maze or run out of rope.

Resigned, he stood to make his way out the window, gripping the edge and searching his bag for another coil of rope. A sudden clicking sound behind him brought his head whipping around to find the source. The bookcase to his left had sunk further into the wall if that was possible.

Hongjoong let go of the windowsill to investigate further when the case suddenly repositioned itself forward again. He turned and looked at the window where his hand had been and placed his hand there again. Sure enough, the bookcase retreated into the wall again. It was a secret door, triggered by a brick on the windowsill.

Hongjoong smirked at this development and pushed the bookcase further, until he could fit through. The room it hid was darker than the main area, and rows of bookcases stretched on past his vision. It was impossible to tell how large the room actually was, but Hongjoong quickly got to work and checked the theme of the first row.

About halfway through the rows of books, he found something intriguing. “Charts and maps of the Far Eastern Sea,” he whispered the title to himself. The dusty tome was situated on the very top of the shelf, and the short statured boy had to fetch the wooden chair from the balcony and stand on it to safely retrieve it.

Quickly navigating the table of contents, he skipped to the section on invisible maps. After flipping through a few fragile pages on invisible ink he finally reached the section that suggested solutions to uncover the ink.

“A magic glass,” he read aloud to himself. “Similar to the magnifying glasses so popular in archaeology and navigation, only additionally capable of illuminating hidden characters and invisible ink... However they are very rare, the largest reported accumulation of magic glasses was lost to the sea on the Sunken Island. Sunken Island?” He had never heard of it and had no idea where it was.

“Well you’re not Royal Navy,” an amused voice behind him nearly caused Hongjoong to fall off the chair. He whirled about so fast he almost dropped the book, but instead raised it as a makeshift weapon to strike whomever had snuck up on him. The hooded figure upturned his face and smiled. Hongjoong lowered the book in disbelief.

“Maddox?”

“Hongjoong!”

The two stared at each other for a few seconds before Hongjoong abruptly stepped off the chair and met the hooded man in a tight hug. “I can’t believe you’re alive,” Maddox whispered, tears threatening. Hongjoong pulled back to get a look at the man and blushed when he realised he was being sized up too.

Maddox looked almost exactly as Hongjoong remembered, nose ring and all. He had truthfully only encountered the man a few times, but Maddox was Eden’s trusted quartermaster back in the day, and the time Hongjoong spent on Eden’s ship had been some of the happiest moments of his life.

Maddox was only about four years older than him but had been such a reliable hyung and excellent mentor on the one voyage Hongjoong took with Captain Eden before things fell apart that he was almost brought to tears to be reunited with him. “A ghost from the past I’m actually happy to see for once,” he smiled broadly as Maddox led him to another room beyond the hidden chamber. “Come this way,” the older man was urging him excitedly. “We’ve so much to catch up on!”

Once the two were settled in some nicer leather chairs by a fireplace, Maddox spoke. “How on earth did you end up here?” Hongjoong gave him a brief and very modest summary of the voyage of the ATEEZ, from surviving the Navy attack to building the ship to recruiting members.

“I wanted to find Eden again, so I went to his hometown where we found a parchment with the address of this mystic on it. When we went to her island, she advised us to travel east if we wanted to find him. I honestly began to wonder if we were chasing after nothing, but having found you— we must be on the right track!”

The smile in Maddox’s eyes as Hongjoong recounted his story faded at this last remark. “I think it’s most impressive that you managed to follow his trail thus far...” Hongjoong frowned at the apprehensiveness in Maddox’s pause.

“But...?”

Maddox sighed, “But I think you should stop looking for him. Because he doesn’t want to be found.”

Hongjoong’s mouth dropped open. “Doesn’t want to be found? But, Maddox! If he doesn’t know I’m alive then of course I’ve got to find him! I’ve got to show him! I don’t care how dangerous it is now!”

Maddox sighed as Hongjoong became agitated. “Hongjoong, look. Eden’s not quite who he used to be. Ever since he lost you in that fight, some of the fire went out of him. He’s in hiding now, I don’t even know where he is. That’s the whole reason we’re out here; we fled east away from the Royal Navy— the Navy we thought had killed you!” His eyes traced the imperfections in the floorboards. “You don’t know what that did to him, Hongjoong.”

Hongjoong was fighting tears. “No, I don’t know. But it’s just unfair; I survived everything up until this point, I did everything he taught me just to get here! You can’t tell me everything I dreamed when we were young, the life I wanted with all of you... has come to nothing.”

Maddox nodded at this outburst. The kid had a point, and if anyone deserved to bring Eden out of hiding, it was him. He could see that Hongjoong wasn’t the same boy he had met years ago, straw sticking out of his hair, a broad and naïve smile despite the bruises on his face.

The twinkle in this young captain’s eyes was the same but the things he had seen and done had truly changed him. Maddox leaned forward and tried to catch the boy’s eye. “Just because I don’t think it’s a good idea to try to find him, doesn’t mean I won’t help you.” Hongjoong finally glanced up.

“So you’ll tell me what happened to you?” Maddox sighed and scratched the back of his neck. “What are you doing on this island with the Royal Navy?” Hongjoong continued to push for answers.

“When he thought he lost you, it took Eden months to come back,” Maddox finally began the tale. “I waited with the rest of the crew in the harbour where he had left us to fetch you and help you escape your family. You can’t imagine how excited we were to have you with us again, for good this time. And then no word for weeks until Youngsaeng overheard some off-duty Navy officers bragging about sinking Eden’s famous ship. We thought we had lost both of you until he suddenly returned, refusing to speak about it. When I finally got him to open up, he told me about everything; your relatives alerting the Navy, the ambush, the fire ships—” here Hongjoong flinched, and Maddox watched him intently before going on, “The prices on the rest of our heads were skyrocketing and so we stole a new ship and sailed east. We ran into all kinds of troubles and lost most of the crew along the way. Dagger Cliffs and multiple battles with the Navy when they found us caused damages to our ship. We were fortunate enough not to wake the dragon we found, but it sounds like you weren’t. The skeletons you found on that volcanic island— our men. You’re correct that they killed each other for that cursed gold. A massive typhoon nearly beached us here, but by the time we discovered it was occupied by the Navy already it was too late. Only Eden and a handful of men managed to escape. Everyone else was killed, except me.”

“Why did they let you live? And why aren’t you locked up in a prison cell?” Hongjoong was conscious that he was probably sticking his nose in too far, but couldn’t help the fire in his chest when he heard what his idols had gone through.

Maddox seemed to be choosing his words very carefully, never quite meeting Hongjoong’s gaze. “They wanted to use me for information. Ignorant of them, really, because Eden never had a plan and if he’s made one since, I’m not privy to it. I think they keep me alive in the hopes that he’ll come back for me. As long as I don’t act up, they keep me comfortable.”

Hongjoong was unsettled by this. “Why did word never reach the mainland that Eden was alive? All this time following him, it was only on a feeling.”

Maddox shrugged at this. “The Eastern Sea is very disconnected from the rest of the world. Any message on this side of the Doldrums has a slim chance of getting back home. And it’s not just that... there are magical forces that get stronger the further east you sail. Things tend to very inconveniently go wrong at the worst times.”

He had to admit everything added up, and so Hongjoong finally leaned back in his chair and pulled out Eden’s map again. “Mingi found it in an abandoned house on Smokey Island. I can’t read it, but this book says there’s a magic glass I can use on Sunken Island.”

“Mingi? Scrawny Mingi that Eden used to talk about? You made that kid your quartermaster?” Maddox chuckled at the memory of Eden’s stories of spending time with the children at the coast. Hongjoong couldn’t help but smile, too. “You should see him now, he’s grown well.”

Returning to the matter at hand, a shadow passed over Maddox’s face. “Sunken Island.”

Hongjoong perked up. “You’ve been?”

“No, but it’s the next stop after this one. Some of the Navy officers talk about it occasionally. It’s near impossible to get into. One man made it there and back once, but he came back half-dead and his voice was gone. When he regained use of his hands he wrote that the sirens there tested him and he lost his voice to them. Only by chance did he keep his life.”

Hongjoong swallowed. “I know it won’t be easy, but it’s the only way to find Eden. And I need to find him, for both our sakes.”

He hadn’t seen it before, caught up in the smiles and bright eyes that reflected the past, but the Maddox before him was also a shadow of his former self, underneath the mask.

“Let me see the map,” the man asked. He took it and a quill and protractor and began to mark the location of Sunken Island. “Beyond that, I can’t help you. But if anyone can get there, you can.” He flashed a genuine smile at the young captain.

“Come with us,” Hongjoong urged quietly. “You know I can’t,” Maddox’s smile was unwavering as he shook his head. “The Navy officers don’t know you’re here yet. Your ship is still disguised by the fog. If I disappear, they’ll come after us, and we won’t get far past their shore batteries. It’s better if I stay and buy you time. But let me give you some supplies for the journey.”

“I wouldn’t worry about that,” Hongjoong informed him. “My men have been collecting plenty of fruit this whole time.”

“Fruit from the beach?” Alarm was suddenly written all over Maddox’s face.

“Yes...”

“The fruit here is no good, it causes hallucinations. Visual and auditory. Men have gotten high on it, wandered into that maze down there, and never come out. No one knows where they go, but I don’t want any of your hands going there. I have food and water I can give you, safe food. I’ll go pilfer a few barrels, the cook won’t notice, he’s probably drunk already.”

Maddox walked off into yet another room to the side and Hongjoong went to the window. He had broken into a cold sweat at the mention of drugged fruit.

Perhaps that was the reason his officers still hadn’t found the fort. Perhaps they were stuck down there in that maze, chased by figments of their imaginations. It was time to leave this place.

Soon Maddox returned and the two had a system going to carefully lower the barrels to the courtyard so that they could be rolled out the maze and to the ATEEZ. The time had come for goodbye and both of them knew it.

Maddox held Hongjoong back at arm’s length and beamed at him again. “I’m very proud of you, you know. Eden will be, too.”

Hongjoong gripped him back, eyes growing wet. “I’m going to find him, Maddox. And I’ll give him hope again. I promise.”

...

Having successfully snuck out the window to the courtyard, Hongjoong untied the rope from the gate, bound the barrels together, and rolled them as silently as he could into the maze. He was again thankful for the few turns as visibility was at an all time low for the evening. On reaching the exit, he suddenly bumped into someone.

“Jongho? Are you alright?” The youngest officer stood from where he had been pushed to the ground by the barrels and brushed himself off.

He looked like a deer in the headlights and Hongjoong instantly knew something was wrong. “Yes, I’m fine now. I just had another dream and... there was a sunken city. The shard of silver is in a sunken city.”

“Our next destination,” Hongjoong confirmed. “What brought you to the mermaid cove, Jongho?” Jongho scrunched his eyebrows together, grabbing his head in an attempt to remember, and gripping Hongjoong in a panic when he couldn’t. “I don’t know hyung, I don’t know anything before the cave!”

Hongjoong pulled him in for a quick hug, whispering, “It was a storm. You took shelter from a storm there.”

Jongho pulled back and looked at the ground, ashamed. “A vision came at the worst time and it didn’t even help you. What am I coming to?”

Hongjoong frowned at him and lifted his head. “None of that, you know how valuable you are, visions or no. Now help me with these barrels.”

...

“Help! Help! We need help over here!” Wooyoung had been screaming his lungs out while pressing his fist into Seonghwa’s bloody wound for the last five minutes. A few feet away San was in hysterics, attempting to escape Yunho’s arms.

“What’s wrong?” Captain’s voice drifted through the fog and in a moment he, Jongho, and half a dozen barrels appeared before them.

“It’s Seonghwa, he... he’s been shot,” Wooyoung gasped out, relieved his cries had finally been heard. Alarmed, Hongjoong glanced at the gun on the ground, the sight of San fighting Yunho to run away, and a bloody and motionless Seonghwa, and deduced in a few seconds what the situation was.

He dropped to his knees and checked his boatswain’s vitals. Seonghwa’s eyes fluttered open and stayed trained on his captain, trying to stay silent but Hongjoong could hear his laboured breathing all the same. “Wooyoung, I want you to take the barrels and get them loaded on the boat. Inform the other men at the beach that we are to leave for the ATEEZ immediately.”

Wooyoung’s eyes were stuck on Seonghwa, but had gone unfocused. Hongjoong grabbed a shaking shoulder and repeated, “Wooyoung!”

Finally the boy met his eyes and nodded tersely. “Yessir.” He clearly didn’t want to leave Seonghwa like this, but followed orders anyway. Yunho and San were practically in a headlock now, and the Captain quickly handed the injured boatswain off to Jongho with orders to make for the beach before rushing over and separating the two.

“San, listen to me! Listen!” San’s eyes widened at the Captain suddenly in his face, shaking his shoulders, but began to regain his senses as Hongjoong went on, “Whatever you’ve seen, whatever you’re seeing— it isn’t real! The fruit was drugged, San. Come back to the boat, you have a patient who needs you.”

San’s breathing slowed and he nodded, pushing back the bile that rose in his throat out of disgust for himself and following the Captain docilely. Yunho kept an eye on San as he rolled the barrels to the beach and helped load them. He had been front and center to observe everything that happened in that maze but even if he hadn’t, it didn’t take much insight to see how intensely San was blaming himself.

He caught Hongjoong’s eye and tilted his head in San’s direction. The surgeon’s face was stone cold as he climbed into the boat and worked to stop the blood flowing from Seonghwa’s wound, but Hongjoong nodded back to Yunho, understanding what he was trying to say.

They needed to talk.

...

Mingi paced the quarterdeck faster as the fog moved off the ship. He had kept a faithful watch on the shrouded shoreline Captain’s boat had disappeared to, even though he could only make out the outline of tree edges. The fog was amassing over the island now and away from the ship and the beach and Mingi watched anxiously as shore batteries came into view.

“What is this? A Navy settlement this far East?” He swallowed dryly before giving the order to load the cannons. “Captain had better get back here soon or we might be seeing action.”

The sun was setting into the ocean behind them and Mingi knew it wouldn’t be long before the ATEEZ was spotted now that they were no longer hidden.

Sure enough, a warning shot whizzed toward them and hit the waves just short of the bow. Mingi was at the gun deck in a few short strides, collecting his wits as it dawned on him that he was going to have to command all the gun teams by himself.

His eyes scanned the gunwale before he began orders, “Open the ports!” The men seemed to understand the urgency of the situation and quickly unbolted the portholes, exposing the shiny necks of the cannons.

When he was assured they were properly loaded, Mingi yelled, “Turn them out!” and helped push the cannon nearest into position.

The crews looked to him when their fuses were ready and sprung into action at his order, “Fire as you bear!”

Each cannon blast shook the vessel, but the anchor remained steady. Only two of their shots landed on the principle battery but the men reloaded without prompt and fired again.

Mingi felt in his bones the groan of the ship as the bowsprit was splintered by an opposing shot. He immediately spotted the culprit and pointed the cannon out to the gunners. “There he is, take out that cannon! Fire!”

This time the battery was blown to pieces, and a cheer broke out on the gun deck. Mingi sighed in relief, but raised his voice again, “Don’t celebrate yet, there’s another battery to starboard, see!”

...

The crewmen on shore jumped out of their skin at the sudden sound of cannon fire from the ATEEZ, but only began to work faster. The boat was finally loaded and had just pushed off when Hongjoong realised they were a man short.

“Where’s Yeosang?”

Silence.

“Where’s Yeosang, dammit! Who was with him?”

Everyone turned to see Jongho, face stricken with horror, jump off the back of the boat and begin swimming to shore. “Jongho, wait—”

“I’m going to find him!” The youngest yelled over his shoulder.

“No you’re not!” Captain shouted back. “You need to be onboard, you’ve only just had a dream and I can’t risk you having another one!”

At that Jongho began to slow down in his strokes. Wooyoung saw his opportunity and took it, shedding his jacket and diving into the water. He swam out to Jongho, ignoring the cries from the longboat, turned him around, and told him, “I’ll go instead, Jongho.”

Jongho knew he couldn’t win this one, and with a grimace swam back to the boat. Hongjoong knew without his report what Wooyoung was planning to do.

“Wait!” He yelled, turning around and grabbing something in the boat. He tossed his canvas bag to Wooyoung, who caught it and managed to keep it above water. “Take this. It’ll help you find your way.”

With a yessir and a deep breath of air, Wooyoung turned back toward shore and swam as fast as he could.

...

Taglist: @nightynightnyx

A/N: Any predictions?? We’ve finally gotten inside Hongjoong’s head a little bit, but we’ve only scratched the tip of the iceberg as it were. Only a few chapters left for this installment! Please enjoy and leave a like, a comment, and a reblog if you would like more.

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