"Captain!"

Hongjoong glanced over his shoulder. His hands dropped from Seonghwa only after double-checking the bandage looped around his neck. Then, he called at his crew that came racing down the hill.

"Ahoy, me 'earties! Everyone 'ad a jolly caulk?"

Wooyoung and San reached him first, speedier than Yunho's light jog. Even from a distance, Hongjoong could tell Mingi was perturbed and his brow was furrowed over his eye patch.

"Seonghwa told us what happened. Why didn't you say anything?" Yeosang stuttered as his hand found Hongjoong's shoulder. He eyed him up and down as if Hongjoong might have sprouted an extra limb. When he found only the prior traces of fatigue, he bit his tongue. As someone so versed in his readings, he should have noticed.

That, and the sentiment they all shared. As a loyal crew who adored their captain, they all should have noticed.

Hongjoong didn't blame them. The first thing a pirate became good at was hornswoggling others. He would have been insulted if he didn't get to keep some secrets from their nosy selves.

And they didn't even suffer the worst of it. Seonghwa did and though he stuck to Hongjoong's side as always, the intention was unmistakable. He would lead them through the mirror no matter what. They were not parting.

"Ye gotta babble to us more, Cap. Princess Swab 'ides ye away too much," Mingi grumbled, just as fed up with hearing the news last.

"I'll 'ave ye know none o' ye would bother with this if me sugar were nay so greedy fer 'avin' me healthy. I kept the secret."

Seonghwa glowered at him. This was no matter to keep to himself between husbands. Especially not since it had to do with the Abyssus. A cold was one thing. Being haunted by demons, another.

"So... Yongguk said somethin' about the umbras? An' that ye feel sick because o' yer death," San recollected, unsure about the details.

Hongjoong hummed.

"I be sick because I ain't 'uman anymore. Seonghwa an' I decided to find a remedy o'er in the mirror world."

A collective shudder crawled down their spines. Jongho caught Yeosang's hand when it fumbled for him, calm in the storm.

"Ye do nay 'ave to join us. There be lots to do 'ere, an' a port to build. If ye can wait, we will 'urry aft," Hongjoong assured them. He preferred to keep as many people here as he could. Blimey, he would go alone if this wasn't all Seonghwa's doing. The pirate's gut still told him this was a bad call.

If it saved his crew's lives, he'd rather split up. He was lost already, but they lost much more.

Wooyoung and San sought an answer in each other's eyes. Yunho patted his pouches.

"I be with ye. If ye find a remedy, I 'ave to be there to double-check it."

"It be dangerous," Hongjoong reminded them. Though they all felt the draw of the unnatural magic over there last time, their umbras weren't the only vile creatures of that realm. It bustled with monsters beyond their human understanding.

"That's what we have you for, no? You see it differently and you know what you need to do. We'll be your support. As always," Yeosang smiled. By his side, Jongho nodded.

After another moment of reluctance, Wooyoung gave in. The one he feared, San's umbra, was no more. It wasn't as if they'd run into them there.

"I want to find out what 'aunts our dear captain this time. It'd be sick with worry if I stayed."

Hongjoong rubbed his forehead. They only came this far because of their collective stubbornness, but Yongguk was right. This was no easy sacrifice. They prided themselves on their power and arrogance, but they couldn't equate this journey with the last.

When San and Mingi also joined in, they were back at the beginning. Only that now, Seonghwa smiled, reassured they would make it.

Since his crew was Hongjoong's pride and joy, they spurred him. If they went to save him, he would return to save them. Time and time again.

"I convinced Yongguk to open the portal fer us. We do nay know what we seek, but the shadows in me dreams invited us to the place beyond," Hongjoong explained. There was no map to check, no compass to set a course by. Only a chilling fear swathed in stubborn determination.

"If we do nay find a cure, Hongjoong will get worse. Since this be a matter that 'as to do with the shadows, we must turn o'er every stone," Seonghwa said. With his face so serious and his lips pursed, he looked older, strict, like a commander. For the first time, Hongjoong didn't feel like the leader at their tip, but like the bumbling stowaway who got dragged along.

Truly, he wouldn't make this much effort for himself.

They gulped at the stakes, but they agreed.

"No need to go there an' return with empty 'ands," Wooyoung uttered. He patted his hips, checking all guns and ammunition.

"Our bundles be packed an' Yunho divided the provisions. We be ready to set sail whenever ye want," Jongho addressed Hongjoong. Then, when Hongjoong blinked violently to focus his blurring sight, he added: "Preferably soon, I reckon."

Seonghwa beckoned them with his hand. Everyone trudged along, nervous at the prospect of their goal, but not ones to withdraw without trying. If they went there and all hell broke loose, they could still flee. Or die in battle, together over being alone.

While San chatted up Seonghwa and flirtingly asked him to be as attentive towards him as he was for his husband, Mingi matched his pace with Hongjoong. His pensive face mirrored Hongjoong's uneasy feeling.

Mingi knew him the longest, saw his every rise and fall. Saw him crawl from the ashes time and time again. Yet, for the first time, he saw his captain stand back, reluctant of their goals. His leadership brought them so far. If his gut feeling told him this was off...

Then again, they faced demons. Anyone would dread a repetition of their umbras.

Hongjoong reminded himself this wasn't the same. Nothing of the like could happen to them.

When he exhaled, Mingi hummed.

"Ain't lookin' too jolly, Cap'n," he informed. A new headache throbbed behind Hongjoong's eyes as he led them up the hill to Yongguk's home. The Precious was safely tucked into the bay between two tall cliffs that would protect her from wind and weather. The pirates of this island would have an eye on her until the crew returned.

Hongjoong couldn't wait to take her out for a proper adventure once they returned. When he didn't flail like a fool anymore.

But she was as loyal as the crew. As they went through so much together, she would wait for them to make their glorious return. And once they ruled the oceans again as the strongest crew that made every landlubber quake in their boots, life would mean freedom once more.

"I'd rather nay get mixed up with those demons. Yongguk also said it be a lethal gamble," Hongjoong confessed. They were beyond the point of fretting now. Seonghwa marched for Yongguk's home and Hongjoong had conceded to come along. Better he had an eye on things than being dead weight.

Eye in the past, Mingi nodded.

"Though I'd rather deal with the remnants o' yer umbra than with Seonghwa's."

They could all agree on that.

Though Mingi hadn't been with them back then. Neither aboard the shadow doppelgänger of the Precious nor in the wendigo cave. He hadn't seen the games Hongjoong's double played, always winning, robbing their sanity. He hadn't felt the keel peeling Hongjoong's skin from his body.

No wonder that being haunted by his leftovers meant going mad.

Hongjoong put one foot in front of the other prudently. He made sure not to topple over. By now they were so used to walking on land, it would discover him like a blazing beacon.

But they made it up the hill safely. Tikki was with a few other kids today, learning how to socialise without hitting anyone who bothered her. She didn't have to witness the crew all pale and apprehensive.

Yongguk opened the door for them, and he didn't sway their minds again. As they filtered into his home, he dragged a large mirror over. It was covered by an old cloth and when he hauled it away, Hongjoong recognised the same splintered surface as back then. No wonder Yongguk kept it covered.

When Yunho walked past the distorted surface, only his own self dashed over it. Hongjoong didn't get too close, but the tip of his shoe mirrored in a corner was black instead of the supposed brown.

"I prepared a potion for you, similar to the one I gave you back then, to disconnect you from your umbras. It should make you invisible to the creatures over there, but expect to be observed more intently than last time. Your souls were lost then, but now they are free for taking," Yongguk explained as he handed out the vials.

Not if Hongjoong demanded them as his, something in him whispered. He repeated it aloud without thinking.

Yunho stared at him. Wooyoung fiddled the potion to his belt.

Unaware of how sinister he had sounded, Hongjoong furthered his idea.

"If I appear to 'em as one o' theirs an' I 'ave these souls with me, will they nay assume they be mine? I can protect me 'ands that way."

Yongguk gave Seonghwa the last potion and tugged his clothes tighter around his narrow shoulders. While that mirror was uncovered and stared back at them, the room seemed frosty.

"Perhaps. Your umbras were masters of trickery, infamous even among the other creatures born of the dark. If they recognise you as him, perhaps you can fool them. I hope so. For you and your crew."

Who knew if they could win? Those creatures were vulnerable in that realm, but not everything could be killed. And not everything had a shape.

"We'll make it," Seonghwa swore with a glance down their rows. The pirates mingled around the room, spending strength to each other with their presence, but their glances were unsure.

How much did love blind Seonghwa? And how much was it their trauma that held them back when they could be confident?

"Drink your potions and pray. I will monitor the portal day and night. Once you need to return, I'll be ready," Yongguk said. When he came to stand before Hongjoong, the only one not grimacing over the bitter taste of the potion, his bottomless eyes were understanding of his dread.

"I hope you return in better health. Or at least with something for me to work with. I am ready to help where I can."

Hongjoong let go of a breath he didn't realise he had been holding. Yongguk often seemed impatient with them, but Hongjoong could always trust in his loyalty.

"We'll be aft," he promised, and he meant it. They had too much to do here, such extensive projects that finally came to fruition. Something like this couldn't hold them back.

With a glance at each of them, Hongjoong gathered their support. Finally, he stepped before the mirror, ready to lead them.

A man with a black hat stared back at him. His gaze was icy under the brim of his hat and his posture exuded a power he drained from Hongjoong every day.

When the pirate bared his teeth at his sight, the lips of the other jumped into a cruel grin. He held out his hand.

"Remember, you can't kill him. You are one. If you get rid of his remnants, you die, too," Yongguk whispered. For their coexistence, for Hongjoong robbing his body, both of them needed to survive. He just had to become the stronger soul. Make the other submit.

"I'll chain that dog somewhere 'e can nay bother us," Hongjoong hissed.

Amused, the gloved hand turned. Come hither.

Hongjoong earned his approval from Yongguk. Though he had never seen the warlock's eyes so shifty before, he kept his word. When Hongjoong lifted his boot, it breached the watery surface of the broken mirror. He reached out behind him to form a chain with the others. Seonghwa found his hand and clutched it, holding his palm out for the rest.

When they were ready, Hongjoong grasped onto his umbra's chilly fingers and let himself be dragged into their world. Where everything would be different and scary, but they made it once.

For Seonghwa, he would make it again.

*************

Annd here we are! As you can guess, this isn't the last we will see of these pirates.

Since we ended somewhat on a cliffhanger, I decided to put the next and last book "Prince of Shadows" right after this one; it will kick off tomorrow. And again, big warning that things are only turning darker.

Otherwise, I'm happy so many of you returned to this series! It's good to have everyone around again to witness their suffering together~ Thank you always for your patience and support <3

See you on the next one!