The silence was deafening as San kept his eyes locked with the stranger.

Both were waiting for the other to speak, but San couldn't seem to find where to begin. The threat was clear as day in the man's eyes. He was not to be messed with.

San could tell that whoever this was held some kind of status. And him saying the word 'ata' confirmed his suspicions about this man being a merman like Wooyoung, for he'd heard Wooyoung say it many times.

For a moment he wondered what it meant, then the second man drew his attention when a head of bright blue hair peered around the corner. "Mingi, don't hurt him."

"Don't tell me what to do." The redhead growled, pressing San harder into the wall.

Then a sudden battle cry startled all three of them as Jongho came running from the bedroom, bat swinging wildly, with Yeosang close behind him. "GET AWAY FROM HIM!!"

The one called Mingi let go of San and stumbled backward. He threw his arms wide to protect his companion, a dark snarl curling his lips as his eyes narrowed.

Yeosang was quick to pull San behind him, shielding him from the threat in the room. "Stay back! It's three against two. We don't want to hurt you."

Mingi scoffed. "Like you could harm us. You pathetic humans know nothing." He spat on the floor and stood up straight, towering over his opponents. "Where is Wooyoung?" His deep voice rumbled, laced with venomous hostility.

"Please, everyone stop." San squirmed out of Yeosang's arms and ran between the two groups, ignoring the protests and threats it sparked. "We both want the same goal here!" He turned to face Mingi. "We want to find him too."

The other merman placed a hand on Mingi's shoulder. "Min, I think these are the friends Woo spoke of." He said softly. "Let's hear them out."

"Fine." Mingi crossed his arms, still keeping himself between San and the other male. "Speak."

San gulped, feeling very much put on the spot. How was he supposed to explain everything that had happened to Wooyoung? Or... how was he supposed to explain how much Wooyoung meant to him? It was obvious these two cared for the merman's safety too, but...

He took a deep breath. "I'm not quite sure where to begin," He said honestly.

"I think we sort of know how you met Wooyoung. On the beach, right?" The blue-haired man said. His lips twisted to the side as he spoke, showing either his displeasure or sadness at the statement, it was hard for San to tell. "And he visited you a lot?"

"Yes." San nodded.

"And he told us about being captured by humans, and how you helped him escape."

"Yes, that's all true.

"Prove it." Mingi growled.

San flinched at his harsh tone. How on earth was he supposed to prove all this?

He looked over his shoulder at his friends, seeking their guidance. Yeosang looked just as lost while Jongho was staring the mermen down.

But then the younger's eyes grew wide and he pointed to his chest.

San knew instantly what he meant and pulled out the scale Wooyoung had given him.

Both mermen gasped and froze in place. Mingi's anger swiftly faded away into... hurt? He looked like he had just heard the saddest news possible. Same with the other one. He even had tears in his eyes.

Slowly, oh so slowly, they looked at each other. Despair, anguish, utter defeat... those words flew across San's mind as he watched the pair in front of him Intertwine their fingers and lean into each other.

That's when he noticed the matching golden bracelets set with rubies. His gut told him they meant something more than just to accessorize, otherwise Wooyoung would have done something similar.

Part of him regretted showing the scale now. He would have never guessed it would cause this to happen... especially when he though he heard the blue-haired merman whisper, "We've lost him."

Mingi pulled the other into a hug and just shook his head. "No. Not yet." He said gently before turning to look at San once more. "What happened? Where is he?"

"He... He's been taken... He sacrificed himself to make sure that we weren't harmed." San started to run his hands over their opposite forearms as a way to distract his racing mind. "I failed him..."

"Sannie..." Yeosang stepped forward to hug him from behind. "You didn't."

"What happened?" Mingi asked, a slight hardness returning to his tone.

"I think that you should tell us who you are before we answer any more of your questions." Jongho stepped forward, lifting the bat a few inches from the ground.

The merman's upper lip twitched in response, but his companion spoke first. "I suppose that's fair. My name is Yunho, and this is Prince Mingi. We are from the same pod as Wooyoung."

"Prince?!" The three humans said at the same time as Mingi hissed, "Yunho!"

The blue-haired merman shrank into his shoulders a little. "Sorry, but... It's clear we can trust them. I think the only way we are going to help Wooyoung is if we work together."

San's mind spun with the revelation. Wooyoung was friends with royalty? Mermen had royalty and a hierarchy? Pods?

It was then that he realized Wooyoung never revealed much of his home. San had tried to ask a few times but now that he thought about it, Wooyoung had always been really good about changing the subject.

Which mean he must truly care for these two.

A small flame of jealousy sparked in his heart that he rushed to try and put out. That wouldn't help anything right now.

With a nod of consent from Mingi, Yunho started to speak again. "We all grew up together. Wooyoung is our family. He said he would... Mingi and I are mates and... Woo..." The merman stumbled over his words and looked down at the floor.

San clicked his teeth together a couple of times, unsure of what else to say. So he thought of something else to ask instead, "Are you two going to need to change back soon?"

Both Mingi and Yunho paused and gave him a questioning look.

"Wooyoung could only stay as a human for so long before he needed to change back. Are you-"

"No." Mingi answered quickly. "What else did he tell you?"

"Not a lot, I promise." San held his hands up as he felt tensions rising once more. "He never really talked about his home with me. The only other thing I know is that his magic drains his energy, and when he is weak he can't use it, but that's because it posed an issue for us when we rescued him from the aquarium."

The mermen exchanged worried glances. "Will you tell us what happened?" Yunho asked softly.

"Do... Do we really have time for that?" Jongho looked at San. "We have no idea where he is right now, or what they could be doing to him."

The thought of Wooyoung undergoing more torture broke San's heart in more way than one. He nodded to Jongho. "You're right. I don't want to stay here, but where do we start?"

"I can find him." Mingi said firmly. "My magic is stronger. Being here has allowed me to reconnect with Wooyoung's essence. I can..." He placed a hand over his heart, "I can feel him. Barely, but it's there. I think I can follow that to him."

"Are you sure?" Yunho asked, stepping around the redhead for the first time since the confrontation had started. "That could be dangerous."

"We have no choice. And we have Mother Atargatis' pendants. I can draw on that if I need to."

A soft chuckle made all of them pause and turn to Yeosang. He had an endearing smile on his face. "I- I'm sorry. It's just so strange to hear you say that name. We know of her as the first mermaid in history. Wooyoung used to say Mother Ata all the time when he was surprised or shocked."

"Of course he did." Yunho smiled for the first time that evening and started to fiddle with the bracelet on his wrist. "He always did use her name poorly."

"So he was cursing when he said that?" San pressed his lips together to try and fight his own smile. There was nothing amusing about their situation, yet the obvious love for Wooyoung began to ooze out from all of hem.

"Cursing, cursing..." Mingi hesitated for a second, "Oh! You mean like when humans are upset or angry and they say cruel or mean words?"

"Uh, yeah, I guess that's one way to describe it." San rubbed the back of his head. "Bursting bubbles was another one. My favorite one."

That one finally made Mingi smile. "Mine too."

The two of them exchanged a look that made the jealously in San's heart try to rise up again, but he still fought against it.

Mingi loved Wooyoung too. And not just as family.

Even if the merman didn't know what love was, it was swirling around the longing look in his eyes.

Jongho was the first one to break the silence, tapping the end of his bat against the ground a couple of times. "Well, are we going to go?"

"Yes." San broke eye contact with Mingi and turned to his friends. "Should we take anything?"

"Yeah, let's grab what food we can for now." Yeosang hummed, then hurried to the kitchen.

Yunho perked up at his words. "Food? Do you have food? We haven't eaten a full meal in days..."

That statement made San pause. "How did you get here?"

"It wasn't easy. As soon as we got to the beach, we just started watching. We could trace where the scroll was sent from, so we followed that feeling as best we could." Mingi started to watch Yeosang rummage through all the cupboards. "What are those giant things you like to ride around in?"

"Cars?"

"Cars." Mingi hummed. "You need to train them better. They have a mind of their own and show no regard to those of us on the ground. Several tried to hit us."

"Oh boy." Jongho breathed next to San's ear.

And 'oh boy' was right. How was San supposed to give these two a crash course in everything human while also looking for Wooyoung.

He did the best he could explaining how cars weren't alive so there was no way to train them, and that humans were responsible for operating them. Which led him to trying to explain that there were designated areas for people to walk so that they didn't go out into traffic.

That's when he realized that these two were probably the cause of the accident the news had reported earlier that evening. There was no way this was a coincidence.

Despite his attempts, Yunho and Mingi still looked thoroughly confused and tried to mask it by moving on to ask about almost every single thing in the kitchen.

It was easy to see that they had curious minds. And it was clear that merfolk were not up to date on anything pertaining to humans.

They revealed that their home had been in need of a sunken ship for awhile now. All the ones in their area had been covered in coral, which was a good thing, but they kept waiting for another large ship to sink so they could start a new area and scavenge parts like the sails and lose pieces of wood.

When all three humans failed to find the words to tell them that wooden ships of that caliber didn't really exist anymore, they elected instead to usher them out of Jongho's apartment and into Yeosang's car.

San tried to suggest that they steal a car since the police were still after them, but Yeosang didn't feel comfortable with doing that.

So now he found himself squeezed into the back seen, in between Yunho and Mingi, trying his best to keep a level head between all the curious questions and the glares that drilled holes into the side of his head from the merman prince pressed against him.

They got on the highway, heading in the direction of the lake with the hopes that Wooyoung's essence would get stronger.

It was the only hope they had right now.

San clutched the scale around his neck, praying to whoever would listen for guidance as he thought to himself, "I'm coming my love. I'm coming for you."

Pain.

Magic.

Food.

Anguish.

Heartbreak.

Magic.

Food.

Pain.

Pain.

Pain...