Wooyoung had no idea how long he was stuck in the truck for. There was no way for him to track the passing of time, but he did know it was going faster than he would like.

His entire body burned. He had only experienced this kind of pain one other time, and it was when he had mixed a potion wrong back home. Mer Kim had spent hours working on him to help his skin heal.

That's also when he had learned about fire and its properties He was taken to an underwater cavern filled with lave. The heat had been unbearable...

Just like now.

The merman felt like ever inch of his body was being engulfed by that lava pool. It consumed his every thought, his every movement his every sound.

And this Mr. Kim seemed to ignore all of it.

He let Wooyoung on the floor of the truck while he made several phone calls, never looking away from the wall opposite him. It was like he was trying to ignore each whimper, each flinch, each groan of pain.

Or he just didn't care...

The pain was getting to the point where Wooyoung's vision was flashing between black and white.

He could feel his magic draining every ounce of strength from his body...

Maybe he should let it Tae him. Then he wouldn't fall into the hands of someone who wanted to use him.

As the pain kept growing and growing, switching from power thuds to sharp teeth-like punctures to feeling like his skin was being ripped from his body Wooyoung felt his mind growing weary.

But that didn't stop him from trying to focus on the only other sound besides the truck's roaring engine.

"Yes, Sir... We should be there soon... No... No... But I-... Yes..." From the little Wooyoung could pick up, it sounded like Mr. Kim was getting yelled at.

Good, served him right.

Another wave of pain shot through the merman's body, causing him to give a strangled cry as he curled in on himself. With his arms still tied behind his back, he couldn't even attempt to give himself any form of comfort.

And that's all he wanted right now... He wanted to know that he was going to be ok, even though, deep down, he new he was being eaten alive by his own magic.

Sometime later, it could have been minutes or hours, the truck finally came to a stop with a loud squealing sound.

Wooyoung ground his teeth together and shrank in on himself. He wasn't ready for whatever was waiting for him.

But he had no choice.

The doors flew open and hands gripped and tugged and pulled, adding to the overwhelming pain.

He was lifted out of the truck and dragged between two men, who held his arms much harder than they really needed to, up a long set of stairs. They didn't even bother lifting him high enough to get his feet up, so they knocked against each step, one by one.

Wooyoung tried to take in his surroundings as best he could, but all he caught was glimpses. Deep red floors. Some kind of weapons on the walls. More of the frozen people behind the invisible barrier. Glass? He thought San called it glass... Large, stone statues.

Then white. White halls, white doors, white clothes on the people.

It was too much. The burning was increasing. The urge to scratch at his own skin until he bled was getting to the point where it was utter agony. Tears flowed freely down his face and he couldn't stop the heavy sobs that made his chest hurt.

He knew he could end all the pain by changing back... but that would cause a different string of problems that he wasn't sure he was prepared for. Although there was no way to predict which outcome was worse...

If he changed, he would be tortured again.

If he stayed human... he would die.

"Drop him there." Mr. Kim said, his voice cold and indifferent.

The men holding Wooyoung dropped him immediately, causing his body to slap against the hard floor. He tried to catch himself out of instinct, but it only resulted the ropes around his arms and wrists pulling tighter.

His cry of pain seemed to echo throughout the room.

He couldn't even bring himself to open his eyes. It was too much effort, an they were so, so heavy...

A door opened somewhere, followed by light footsteps that tapped quickly against the hard floor. "What is this?" A deep, silky voice asked.

"We found him by the tripped sensor. I'm not sure what he is, but he created water in his hands right before our eyes." Mr. Kim said. Wooyoung didn't miss the slight tremble in his voice. It made him wonder if he was scared of the new man in the room.

"Created water?"

"Yes, Sir. So I thought he would be worth bringing back here."

"So the unicorn eludes us yet again..." The man sounded angry, yet his voice was still low and soothing in a way, almost as if he was trying to restrain himself.

Even in his pain, Wooyoung's heart skipped a beat. That's how they had found him and the others... These men had been tracking the unicorn. Did she know? Was she ok? Wooyoung couldn't help but fear for her safety and was suddenly glad that they had taken him instead.

"So." The deeper voiced man said. His shoes tapped a couple of times as he moved closer to Wooyoung. "Tell me. What are you?"

Wooyoung scrunched his eyes shut as another wave of pain shot through him and he couldn't help the whimper that followed.

"What is wrong with him?"

"I'm not... I'm not sure. He's been like this since we took him. All he's done is whimper in pain." Mr. Kim answered.

A hand grabbed Wooyoung's jaw and lifted his head off the floor. The surprising action made him open his eyes and he wanted to scream in fear when he registered that he was staring at the man who had watched him for months at the aquarium.

Now all he wanted to do was find a rock to hide behind, just like he could do before...

The man's mouth fell open slightly and his eyes widened. "It can't be." He whispered.

Then in a motion so quick that Wooyoung instantly felt dizzy, he was lifted off the ground and thrown over the man's shoulder.

"Sir?!" Mr. Kim called out before running after them.

Wooyoung whine with each hurried step the man holding him took. There was no effort to keep the trip painless or easy, just speed and urgency.

A door slammed open and Wooyoung heard bubbling water. If he wasn't so overwhelmed, he might have tried to look around and see what was going on.

But he couldn't...

It was getting harder and harder for him to even focus on staying awake.

The pain was too much.

He just wanted it to stop...

His mind drifted back to the magical moments he had spent with San.

His San.

Now that he knew what love was, that was the first word he would use to describe his human.

San was his love. His heart. And right now, the only thing he wanted in the world was to be back in San's arms.

Instead, he was shocked back into reality when he was tossed into water.

Wooyoung's eyes flew open and he looked around to try and figure out what was going on. He was in another tank, no where near as big as the one at the aquarium, nor as fancy. There was just four clear barriers and sand at the bottom.

As he sank and settled into the sand, he noticed Mr. Kim and the other man staring intently at him.

A chill ran down Wooyoung's spine when he realized that the man knew what he was and was waiting for him to transform.

But he wouldn't.

Wooyoung would rather succumb to his magic than give this man the satisfaction of knowing he had a merman.

Yet the man seemed to know things that normal humans shouldn't... He snapped his fingers and Mr. Kim ran from the room only to return seconds later holding a glass filled with some kind of swirling white liquid.

He stepped forward and added it to the water, then returned to his place behind the other man.

The liquid stayed suspended at the surface for several long seconds, just swirling lazily as it was pushed back and forth by the rippling water.

Then it started to glow and all move straight for Wooyoung.

He knew what it was the instant it touched him.

Magic.

Pure magic.

It filled him with an incredible rush, sparking his body to heal and repair itself. His heart raced, pumping new, magic filled blood through him from head to toe.

Toes that were starting to stretch and grow together.

The magic was changing him back against his will...

Wooyoung started to squirm, twisting his body back and forth in an attempt to force the liquid away from him.

But it was too late.

The magic had sensed that his body would only be ok if he returned to his original form.

So many mixed emotions flooded Wooyoung's mind. He didn't want to reveal his true self, so he was terrified of what was going to happen next. But at the same time, the amount of relief he felt as soon as his tail was back was overwhelming.

He screamed. In pain or a weird sense of pleasure, he wasn't sure. But the pure euphoria at being alive and whole again was too much for him to process on his own.

So he turned to his voice.

It vibrated the tank and the water around him before calling the water close. It embraced him in a way that nothing else could, welcoming him home to its ever flowing and every changing grasp.

"I knew it."

Wooyoung's head snapped to the side to see both men staring at him with wide eyes. The man in charge stepped forward and placed a hand against the glass before leaning forward.

"I knew I recognized you. How lucky is this? I thought I'd be getting a unicorn, and instead I get the one thing I've been looking for all along." An evil, twisted grin followed his statement. "I hope you're ready to fulfill your destiny, because you'll certainly be helping me with mine. And don't even think about trying to escape."

The merman glared at him and started to twist in place once more.

Unfortunately the transformation didn't free his hands, so they were still bound tightly behind his back. It greatly restricted his movement, although he didn't have much room anyway.

The tank was just big enough for him to maybe swim in small circles so he could stretch his muscles, but that was it.

Iron bars had been lowered over the top, locking the merman inside. There was no sign of any other door or exit.

And as if to further solidify the new prison he was in, a few buckets of fish was emptied through the bars only a few seconds later.

A few were still alive and started to swim around, but the rest drifted down into the sand.

Only then did a pair of mechanical hands, much like the one used to pull him from the tank at the aquarium, drop through the bars and produce a tool to cut the rope.

Wooyoung brought his wrists forward and gently massaged the angry red skin left behind.

"I hope you enjoy your new home. This is where you will spend the rest of your days, under my careful supervision. I'll be monitoring everything, including the amount of magic you get every day." The man arched an eyebrow and gave a deep chuckle at the surprised look on Wooyoung's face. "Oh yes, I know all about your need for magic. That's why I knew what to do as soon as you were in here. And I know just the right amount to give you every day to keep you alive and just healthy enough for my needs."

How? How could a human know about that? It was impossible... right?

As Wooyoung tried to work out the disastrous problem before him, he watched as several men and woman in white coats started to swarm the room, all speaking quickly and quietly to each other as they set up tables with things Wooyoung would probably never know the name to.

But he couldn't focus on those.

All he was was the triumphant smile on his captors face as the sinking sensation started to form like a pit in his stomach.

He was a prisoner once again, and this time, he had no hope that San would ever find him.