Taehyung couldn't help but to become overwhelmed by panic as he sank deeper and deeper into the dark depths of the ocean. His flailing feet didn't do much aside from stir up waves in its wake. A few fishes darted past his eyes as the saltiness from the water caused his cut to sting. No doubt the cut had split open again and was letting blood seep out into the water like a signal to all the predators around.

The air felt like it was being choked from his lungs as Taehyung kept his lips pressed firmly together to try to keep the water out. Half of him found himself wondering why he was prolonging the pain while another part of him was telling him to fight.

'Fight for what? You're alone.'

'No you're not. You have a family. A place.'

Taehyung didn't know it was possible to cry under water. Perhaps it wasn't, but he could swear for a second - during his internal bickering - that a tear was trailing down his face. His lungs felt as if they were about to burst as his eyelids shut. He knew he was about to become fish food and didn't want to see it happen. Taehyung slipped into unconsciousness just as a pair of arms circled about him and started swimming with him back towards the surface.

- - -

In the hours that they had been rowing across what seemed to be a never-ending expanse of blue, the pirate had begun to trust Namjoon. He had introduced himself as Tweedle and began to get very chatty about the other members of his crew, especially a man called Jungkook. The more that Tweedle said about how impressive and intimidating Jungkook was, the more that Namjoon began to worry about Taehyung's safety. The fear heightened in Namjoon even more when he was told that they wanted to extract the gold from Taehyung.

Namjoon tried to play off all his nerves as Tweedly seemingly poured out his life story for him, nodding his head to encourage him to continue. As the sun dipped over the horizon and disappeared from view, Tweedle began to yawn. Soon enough he was asleep with his head on Namjoon's shoulder, leaving him to row the boat alone.

Looking over at Suga in the near darkness, Namjoon could see the smirk that came across his face.

"See? This is why you should have never offered to help," said Suga.

"Why? Because he got tired? Being tired is a human feature. You of all people should remember..."

"Yes, yes," said Suga curtly, cutting Namjoon off before he could get embarrassed. Though, it really was just the two of them at the moment; Hobi having fallen to sleep curled up on a bench in the boat a small while ago with some hay laying up against his cheek.

"Just because someone is a jerk to you doesn't mean that you ought to act that way back. Kindness pays off in the end," said Namjoon.

"That person and his goons attacked me!"

"Yes, but you overpowered them, did you not?

"Well, yes, but..."

"Try being kind once in a while Suga, even to those that are your enemies. You might be surprised by what could happen."

Suga grumbled something unintelligible under his breath as Namjoon looked away at the twilight blue water as he kept rowing. After a moment, Namjoon felt the boat rock a bit, turning to see that Suga had stood up and had gone over to the sleeping pirate. Suga reached out a hand to shake the pirate by the shoulder, watching as Tweedle opened his sleepy eyes to look at Suga.

"Go sleep over there," said Suga as he pointed out the bench he had been sitting on. "I'll take over for a bit."

Tweedle didn't know if Suga was joking or not. A small grin came across Namjoon's lips as he stopped rowing for a moment, nodding his head towards the bench that Suga was still pointing out.

"Go ahead. We've got it from here."

A small smile of gratitude flickered across Tweedle's face as he nodded and stood up, moving to lay down on the bench. He passed out within seconds of lying down, sleeping just as peacefully as Hobi was.

"That was kind of you," said Namjoon as Suga sat down beside him and grabbed up the other oar.

"Well, we wouldn't have gone very far with just you rowing. I want to get out of here sometime this century," remarked Suga, not looking at Namjoon.

Namjoon chuckled, shaking his head as he started rowing with Suga. Baby steps was what it was going to take and at least Suga was willing to do so, even if it was a bit begrudgingly.

- - -

Jungkook gasped for air as he broke above the surface of the water. He kept one arm about Taehyung to keep his head above water as he used his other hand to wipe the water off his own face. Jungkook turned his head off to the side to see that the ship was all but a dot on the horizon now. Curses tumbled from Jungkook's lips as he looked over at Taehyung whose head was lolled against him, still unconscious. Jungkook's eyes caught sight of the wound on Taehyung's forehead, bleeding fresh after its contact with the water.

"We're going to become fish food," muttered Jungkook as he looked around them.

There didn't seem to be anything in sight for miles. Jungkook knew that he could manage to keep them afloat for a little bit, but it couldn't forever. No one was that strong. Jungkook turned his head away from Taehyung and picked a direction to start swimming in that he thought was lucky.

After all, luck was what he relied on his entire life.

Jungkook felt his muscles sting the longer he swam. He swam for what felt like an eternity - even though it couldn't have been more than a few minutes - before a strip of land came into view. Seeing that land, he thought at first that it was a hallucination. However - the closer he swam to it - the more he could see it was real. Seeing salvation in sight gave him a renewed strength in his sore limbs and propelled him ashore.

Jungkook dragged Taehyung's still limp body up onto the sand, laying him on his back as he collapsed onto his knees. Jungkook took a moment to collect his breath; his breath coming in and out in heaves from the swim. As water fell in a waterfall fashion from his face, he looked over at Taehyung. His entire appearance was waterlogged; the blood on his forehead looking like some sort of overwatered watercolor.

"Wake up, troublemaker..." panted Jungkook, moving a hand to slap repeatedly against Taehyung's cheek with still no response.

Bringing his head closer to the other's slightly parted lips, Jungkook turned his head to the side to see if the other was still breathing. He refused to think he had dragged a corpse ashore.

Cursing under his breath for what felt like the hundredth time since diving after Taehyung, Jungkook sat back on his heels and placed his hands together before pushing them down firmly against Taehyung's chest over and over again. He did that for a few moments before pausing, moving his ear to hover over Taehyung's lips again.

"He's dead. He's f-" Jungkook's curse died out as he moved to pinch Taehyung's nose shut, moving to put his mouth over his to try to resuscitate him. He did that a few times - pulling back slightly between each breath in to fill his own lungs with more air - before sitting back on his heels again to try to press repeatedly against Taehyung's chest once more.

Just when Jungkook was about to give up hope completely, Taehyung's head turned off to the side as he coughed; hacking out the ocean water that had flooded his lungs. Jungkook stayed seated on his heels as Taehyung blinked, turning his head back to face Jungkook.

"You saved me," Taehyung gasped.

Jungkook didn't say anything as Taehyung moved to sit up with a wince, placing a hand to his forehead. He brought his palm away to see that it was coated in blood.

"You saved me," repeated Taehyung.

"I heard you the first time," mumbled Jungkook as he heaved himself to his feet.

"But why?" asked Taehyung as he watched Jungkook walk away from him and along the shore. Jungkook's eyes were fixated on the water as he put his hands on his hips. In the moonlight, his red hair almost seemed to glow even brighter.

"Stop talking before you make me wish I hadn't saved you," said Jungkook without looking at Taehyung.

Taehyung sighed. This man reminded him a lot of Suga. Though he hadn't known Suga long, Taehyung knew he was stand-offish too and grumpy until you got to know him better. Moving to stand up, Taehyung walked over to stand beside Jungkook.

"Well, thank you. Again," said Taehyung as Jungkook just nodded.

Taehyung let his own eyes scan the ocean as the moon hung high in the starry sky above them.

"So..." said Taehyung, not able to stand the silence after another moment or two had passed. "What do we do now?"