Warnings for blood and gore

********

Yeosang brooded over his maps at Hongjoong's desk while the captain slurped his tea. He was dutiful about it, less so because he was intimidated by Yongguk's ominous words, and more because Seonghwa watched him with a hawk's eyes. While they were out at sea to spread their lawless message and gather supplies for the Buried Lagoon, his condition shouldn't worsen. Hongjoong got forced to regular baths, a vegetable-rich meal plan and his daily teas. By some miracle, Seonghwa even found some sugar to provide him with.

Right now, his husband had joined Yunho in the kitchen to prepare some sweet pastries in addition to the sumptuous care package. Hongjoong sulked alone for a while, bored since he wanted to embrace Seonghwa in that gorgeous dress. Not that he didn't preen with pride in getting tended to so meticulously by his beloved husband.

Thankfully, Yeosang showed up. Now, the captain lay curled in his bed while Yeosang's pen scratched over the pages of the logbook.

"I want to give Seonghwa another present," Hongjoong hummed out of the blue. Seonghwa's devotion to him inspired him. A present would distract his fretting and convey Hongjoong's gratitude.

The scratching didn't stop, so much more pleasant and smooth than Tikki's writing. Some things never left Yeosang's heritage.

"Is it a special occasion? Or a random thought?" Deep and soothing, Yeosang's voice washed over Hongjoong's strained mind like a spring of fresh water. He propped himself up on his elbow. Right next to him was Seonghwa's treasured baby blanket, worn and stained from use. He caressed it with a contemplative hand.

"'E takes such jolly care o' me. I can nay always check in on 'im in return, but I want to do somethin' jolly fer 'im." His eyes pondered the ceiling. It was heavily hung with a chandelier and expensive fabrics, creating a sky of soothing colours above his head.

What was a suitable present? What, that Seonghwa didn't already have?

"Could invest in a pet," Yeosang offered. He glanced at his compass, turning a page.

"Wooyoung?" Hongjoong asked, lifting his head. Their eyes met, and they broke out in snickers.

The captain dropped back down.

"It 'as to be somethin' better. Somethin' 'e can enjoy without addin' more work. Though we could share a pet."

"Whenever we have chickens on board, he is quite taken with them."

Hongjoong mulled it. Clothes? Weapons? Furs? Artwork? Something to compliment their home? His own cabin boy?

He scuttled the last idea. No one but him got to touch his husband.

He was about to suggest a fancy hat to Yeosang when a cry from outside sent their heads snapping around.

"Sail ho! Jack tar on the 'orizon!"

"Blimey." Hongjoong rolled out of bed, grabbing onto his weapon belt in the same movement. "Did we leave Yonghwan's territory?"

Yeosang hastened to whip out the naval map at the same time as he stood and screwed his hook onto his stump. His lips pursed.

"Seems like it. His pardon doesn't make us privateers."

"Then we sink 'em. Where they attack, we can attack." Hongjoong thundered outside, taking the wheel from San so he could run and prepare the cannons. The boys ushered Mingi to hide, no longer so young to need protection.

"'Alf-mast an' prepare 'em mortar," Hongjoong bellowed with a glance at the far ships. They readied their chase gun before they would come broadside to broadside. Unfortunately for them, the Precious had more cannons.

"Must nay 'ave spied our flag, those pitiful bastards," Yunho huffed as he readied for scuttling. Hongjoong didn't take an opponent lightly. Though arrogant about their abilities, he knew of the dangers at sea. Just because the navy played no demonic mind games with them didn't mean a shot couldn't kill his men.

"Keep yer deadlights open," he warned as the waves carried them over.

"Fire in the 'ole!" San bellowed over the ship. The mortar guns creaked when they got aligned.

"Fire!" Hongjoong ordered. Down the ship, Seonghwa echoed his call. He hovered on the railing, hand entangled in the rigging. He bore the blade Hongjoong once left in his kitchen as their promise to meet again. It looked pretty, almost dainty in his hand. Seonghwa would use it to commit unspeakable horrors. This one wasn't the innocent baker boy whose marvel charmed Hongjoong time and time again.

This one was his husband, his other half. Murderous and eager to kill all those in their way.

The booming of canons had long since ruined their hearing, so Hongjoong flicked his head at the bothersome ringing in his ear. He watched as the wood of the opposing ship splintered under the onslaught and their sailors hurried back and forth to patch up the damage and grab their weapons.

"'Ooks," Hongjoong boomed as he yanked the steering wheel around, aligning them. They fired before they were so close to get jammed into each other and the death cries on the other ship ignited the pirates' blood lust as they hauled in the enemy.

Hongjoong pulled his blade and his gun as he followed his rabid crew. Wooyoung and Yeosang perched between the masts, firing down at the naval ship that became a grave.

On the hunt for the captain, Hongjoong struck down two men and shot a third, who was about to come after Jongho's unprotected back. The few who recognised them before they fell died with their eyes wide open in fear, haunted into the afterlife as they witnessed a demon dawn upon them.

Something dark called to Hongjoong. Something that whispered in the back of his mind.

They interrupted him while he prepared a present for his precious.

They wanted to hurt his people.

They deserved agony.

Hongjoong sunk his blade into the next sailor. It wasn't uncommon that he wanted to punish those ignorant enough to underestimate him. But since when did he breathe in the stench of blood so greedily? Since when did his lips jump into a smile when his boots squished over intestines?

Befuddled, he scaled the steps to the stern castle.

It made sense that he got less squeamish the more time he spent as a pirate. He had seen the same development in Seonghwa. Death no longer frightened him, and blood no longer nauseated his stomach.

He found the captain at the stern of their vessel. He fended off Dahan and Seungmin at the same time, blade swirling to clash with theirs. The younger boys were no match for him, so Hongjoong sent them to scramble with a sharp whistle. Soon, only he and the panting naval captain were left in their hidden corner of the poop deck.

"Ahoy, captain. 'Ow come ye be puttin' up with pesky gentlemen o' fortune this far out?" Hongjoong lifted his blade to his face, lapping up the dripping blood. It tasted sweet on his tongue.

The opposing captain paled under his scowl.

"Don't pretend to be innocent, plunderer! I know who you are, you and your group of devils."

With an eerie grin stuck to his lips and blood staining his mouth, Hongjoong put his gun away.

"Then why did ye nay put a sprin' upon yer ship an' left? Why throw yer lives away?"

"This curse ends if I send you back to hell where you crawled from," the captain hissed. He threw himself forward, sword poised.

Hongjoong side-stepped him with a mad laugh.

"What, ye think all be resolved, then? We ain't the only pirates an' more be comin' every day."

"You are like rats in one's basement, aye! You have to be killed before it gets worse! So many good men falling out of grace. And you vile bastards breeding with good women."

Hongjoong feinted, used to the deadly dance on the slippery deck. Faint rain sizzled upon their shoulders. The fog of the morning had yet to let up, but it couldn't drown out the cries on the ship.

Did the officer know? That only his people were dying? That Hongjoong didn't even need to glance over his shoulder to know his crew was fine?

"Do ye know what ye must do if the rats become too many an' ye can nay find 'em all anymore because they be in yer closet, yer galley, yer bed?"

Offended by the innuendo, the man crashed into Hongjoong. Their blades shrieked and Hongjoong's smaller frame got pushed back, but he persisted with blazing eyes.

As their faces were so close together, he whispered into the man's terrified features. The shadow of death looming behind Hongjoong drew from his confidence.

"Ye burn the entire 'ouse to ashes."

He sprung back, balancing over the railing before he came to stand at a safe distance. His strained wrist circled his sword.

"But what 'appens if ye burn down yer 'ouse? Ye burn with it." Chuckling, he dashed in; ducked to use his smaller build to his advantage. He kicked the man's legs from beneath his body but got blocked before he could slice his throat. With a huff, the relentless sailor pushed himself up.

Did he know the screams got quieter? That he was the only one left standing? That the dead bodies of his crew littered the deck framed by beautiful blossoms of red?

He must know.

Or Hongjoong could show him.

"So if ye do nay want to die, ye must accept the rats. Must let 'em crawl in yer closet, yer galley, yer bed." He hacked at the arm holding the sword, and the man's howl echoed over the sloshing water. Bathed in precious red, the officer stumbled but came back up.

"You are mad. None of this makes any sense!" Once more, he dared a last despairing attempt, but his side was open. Hongjoong's knee hammered into it and the man cringed; grip loosening.

"Rats be an infestation, a plague. They do nay stop until they plundered everythin' an' then they move on. They be incredibly 'ard to kill," Hongjoong sang. He hacked the wilful hand off and listened to the man's scream as if it were a lullaby. The limb landed on the deck with a thump. Forced to his knees, the injured admiral desperately scrambled for his weapon with his non-dominant hand.

"So they keep plunderin' an' they keep crawlin'."

Hongjoong kicked the blade aside and wound his whip around the man's throat. When he tried to stand, he stabbed him in the calf. Blood soaked the deck beneath their feet, each desperate attempt to scramble up accompanied by a cry of pain.

"Up yer windpipe passage an' yer throat, into yer guts," he continued, dragging the hissing and cursing man with him. Unafraid, they marched towards the silent deck. The rain wasn't strong enough to wash off the blood sticking to Hongjoong.

Each confident step made the captain by Hongjoong's feet falter.

He knew what was coming, but he hadn't suspected it before. He had been arrogant. When he stemmed himself against Hongjoong's grip to hide away from the truth, Hongjoong hauled him over the rough, splintered planks. His whip choked him, left vicious red lines around his throat.

They emerged from the helm to a sight truly heavenly.

The deck was bathed in blood, red seeping through the floorboards and splattering up the mast. Dead bodies in naval uniforms hung over the cannons and railing and lured in the seagulls.

Tears gathered in the officer's eyes.

"Until they consume yer 'eart with their evil, nibbling teeth," Hongjoong grinned. He slashed the man's throat and let him drop to the ground, dead with the last image of the demonic pirate crew walking the rows of his dead men.

Hongjoong's heart sang, so happy and so pleased. Joyous memories filled his mind. He wiped his blade on the captain's back before he sheathed it.

"Search their storage fer rations an' treasure then sink the ship, me 'earties! Take all ye can salvage. We-" Hongjoong staggered. He pressed his hand to his right eye, suddenly overcome with a stabbing pain inside his skull. When he stumbled, Seonghwa's voice bellowed over the ship.

"Hongjoong!"

Through his blurring sight, Hongjoong saw him dashing through the ruin of splintered wood the ship had become. All might left him suddenly. As if whatever had driven him evaporated, his knees buckled. When he crashed onto the planks next to the dead captain, he heaved for breath. Red blended into black.

Warm arms caught his fall before he could hit his head on the ground. He sunk against Seonghwa, deaf to the voices of his crew, calling over each other to check on him for injuries.

Darkness overcame him, robbed him of all sense, and dragged him with it into the depths.