JIMIN POV:

I rush to get out of the car and move around to get Kookie's door, fingers falling away when Hobi hyung steps forward, head bent to peer at him carefully scooping (Y/N) up and out of the car, even if there's uncertainty and worry still flickering in his eyes and dissatisfaction in the tight press of his lips as he avoids saying anything.

Eyes glancing up when he feels my gaze on him and quickly turns away with a small sigh.

Something tense and ugly brewing over our clashing opinions for what was the best course of action.

But Kookie's already hurrying to the front door and Joon hyung and the others have already reached it, anxiously waiting for it to be drawn open.

It seems like a lifetime passes before the door is tugged open, a weary concerned Habaek standing there, eyes alert as he scans us and locates her in Kookie's arm, the others parting to let him step through first.

As I pass Habaek, I see the tightness of his grip on the door, knuckles whitened with force as he waits for us all to step through, breath shaky with fear and pupils dilated. Wide as he closes the door and rushes through to the living room behind us.

Stepping in just as Kookie is carefully setting her down into Mi-sun's awaiting lap, her fingers gentle as they card through her hair and murmur softly, (Y/N)'s eyes blinking up to look at her.

She'd been quiet mostly on the car journey back, breaths shaky as she tried to calm herself down, voice slightly wobbly as she insisted she was okay.

That it was just a moment.

That already she was feeling better.

And I'd have been inclined to believe her if I hadn't seen her suddenly crumple, if I hadn't seen the way pain still remained in her eyes for all that she tried to convince us otherwise.

"What's wrong with her? Is she...ill?" Joon hyung hedges carefully once Mi-sun has drawn a blanket over her, her own face tight and tense, tears glittering in her eyes, dried tearstains on her cheeks.

I couldn't imagine the hell they must've endured as they'd waited for her to come home and as Habaek carefully lowers himself onto the other end, drawing her legs onto his lap, he seems to slump.

As if all the strings have been cut.

"She's..." Mi-sun hedges but cuts herself off.

Is it bad? Serious?

Is she chronically ill?

And with each negative thought that swamps my head I feel my mind begin to spiral, drifting off extreme tangents, consumed by that flood of sheer panic.

"Mi-sun will she be okay?" Yoongi hyung asks, voice tight and measured, forcefully controlled.

A sign that he was trying to keep his emotions at bay, trying to be the voice of calm, trying to remain level even if he was frantic and torn up inside.

It makes a lump in my throat grow.

Was she going to be okay?

"She'll be fine. We've got her." Habaek promises, voice slightly rough and his own eyes lined with red.

"She's not ill. She's....dealing with some things." Mi-sun suddenly answers, responding to Joon hyung's question.

But she doesn't elaborate what it is that's causing (Y/N)'s breaths to sound laboured even now, even as she twists and her eyes face us, trying to push herself up on shaky arms.

And though I see Tae and Kookie's hands dart out, hovering as the ones closes to her, no-one says anything as she straightens up, slumping tiredly against Mi-sun, the action having far too much out of her than it should.

"I'm not dying on you, promise. It's just...these..." she promises, voice soft and quiet.

But then breaks off, as if trying to compose herself, trying to get herself to speak.

"Cherub...." Habaek's voice is a soft reassurance.

Something communicated but unspoken in the silence shared between them.

But she shakes her head, resolute, eyes slowly drifting over each and every one of us.

"It's like...a relapse. Sometimes small things trigger...it's agony." She gets out, eyes flaring with the pain of having to word it out aloud.

A relapse. Was it tied to her trauma?

The slight confusion on everyone's face is overshadowed by the grief we all feel for her, for the way her body folds into herself and her eyes meet ours but she looks so hesitant to how we'll react.

My heart aches.

"So hospitals..." Hobi hyung breathes tentatively.

She shakes her head, a wry pained smile.

It looks like a grimace.

"Can't help me. Habaek oppa and Mi-sun unnie have always gotten me through it. I'll be fine in a while." She insists.

But what relapse caused such a visceral agonised flash of pain that still looked like it was coursing through her body?

What was it that remained unspoken between them?

What was it that they could do to help through physical pain?

And seeing the way she was folding in on herself, trying to make herself smaller, vulnerable and tucked under Mi-sun's arm, made my stomach churn.

Feeling so unsettled and troubled about leaving her.

"If...if it's abnormal, if it's weird and I'm broken then I won't blame you for cutting ties, for leaving." She adds.

Voice so defeated, so resigned even as it trembled.

Truly thinking it was for the best.

It makes fire spark in my gut, course through my body.

Indignation and rage that she would ever entertain that idea.

And it's clear the others think the same, Jin hyung carefully nudging Kookie and Tae aside to kneel in front of her, cupping her cheeks and drawing her gaze to his.

"That's never going to happen. Until the day comes where you want out. But we...we're in it for the long haul with you (Y/N)." voice soft and firm.

Her hands tremble as they come to clutch at his wrists.

"And if you change your mind?" she asks.

Fearful.

But needing to know. Making that frustration snap inside me. A coil that goes taut and suddenly releases all tension.

"That won't happen! (Y/N) we love you and whatever you've been through, whatever you're overcoming...none of that makes us think low of you."  breath harsh and ragged, torn out past the lump in my throat, chest heaving as if I've run a marathon. As if adrenaline courses through my body, makes it tremble with jitters.

And Jin hyung's fingers are rubbing gently back and forth over the top of her cheeks, as if scared to hurt her, scared to cause her even the slightest bit of discomfort.

"We love you. And our love isn't weak sweetheart. We love you with all that we all are." He promises, a chaste peck to her lips before he's leaning away.

"You should rest. We'll come over to check....no. Text us when you're ready." Tae says softly, voice low and soothing.

Eyes earnest and full of pain for her.

Wanting to see her but knowing that it was better to wait, for when she was ready. For when she was ready to see us, to want us.

Didn't want to intrude on whatever bound the three together, that allowed them to help her in a way that perhaps we'd never be able to.

She nods.

Tilting into Jin hyung's touch shakily.

Everyone steps forward to press gentle kisses and light hugs to her, murmuring to her before stepping away.

And then I'm moving once Hobi hyung steps away.

Kneeling down and drawing her into my arms for a tight hug, cradling her shaky form in my arms.

Unwilling to let go. Feeling an ache at leaving her alone.

"Please, please let us know you're okay. Let us know if you're not. Just...don't vanish." I plead softly.

Feel her curve closer and her nod against my shoulder.

"I'm not going anywhere Minnie." She whispers.

But when we step back, when we leave the living room and silently slip out into the hallway, I can't help but remember the look she'd given us as I'd turned to give one last fleeting look.

Saw yearning and longing and wistfulness. Saw pain and agony and torment.

Saw.

And couldn't forget.

Couldn't wipe it from my mind even as we got back into the car.

Tears spilling over cheeks as I scrubbed vehemently at my face. Ducking down to hide the misery seeping out of me, yanked out at the feeling of helplessness and resignation on     (Y/N)'s face.

Swiping at the hot trickles that seeped out from under my eyelids as I burrowed my head into my hands, sniffling as the car door opened but someone clambered in beside me, sidled close until a hand settled on my back, rubbing and the press of lips against my temple.

I knew from the touch alone it was Hobi hyung.

"I know Jimin-ah." He says softly.

He knew.

He felt the same anguish tearing at his heart.

What was the point of claiming to have this beautiful bond with her if we couldn't help her through her pains?

"Useless. We can't do anything." I mumble, words rough.

"We can. We give her time, this isn't a new grief, it's engrained in her. It's stopped her living properly, remember that it can't just be switched off." He says.

I hear the shakiness in his own voice.

"Will we ever know? Will she ever feel safe enough to tell us?" I ask more to myself.

Hear his wavery exhale as he burrows closer.

Arms winding around me as he leans against me.

"Maybe. Maybe she's never found people she could've told. Maybe that's why she finds it hard now." He murmurs.

It makes me wonder just what sort of people she's met. What sort of people she's come across that she never found herself to be able to express her grief.

That she fell into silence, into being mute because her voice was swallowed whole and her pain left as gaping sore wounds.

It makes me hurt for her.

Makes me want to tear down every person, every hurdle that had made her feel so caged and so withdrawn. Had made her feel so alone and trapped by her anguish.

"I'm sorry. I wanted to do what's best for her...I still do want to make sure she's okay. But...but you were right. We should trust Habaek, we should respect what (Y/N) wants." He adds, voice shaky as he cradles me, burrowing close.

Trembling arms that try to be firm and strong and protective.

But I could see why, could see as my body sagged and folded, tears seeping down silently that the immediate response was to ease her hurt. To get her help.

I shake my head.

"I just want her to be okay. That's it." I whisper.

And it's a second voice that answers instead.

"She will be." Kookie.

And when I raise my head, it's to see him clambering into the driver's seat.

See him twist and turn to face us, eyes lit with fierce determination and a glossiness he refuses to acknowledge.

"Our girl's a fighter. Don't underestimate her strength." He says.

Dredging his lips up into a smile even if he's just as shaken.

"Buckle up hyungs." Voice soft.

And it felt like we needed to.

Needed to for whatever was coming.

Our hands tightly gripping each other in the seam of where our bodies pressed close.

(Y/N) POV:

Slowly the anguish becomes unbearable. A pain that could've been hidden two days back when the boys came was clear as day now.

Faces furrowed and skin clammy.

Body aching and bubbling with that growing need to get closer to the Ocean, the force of her call growing stronger, growing fiercer and tugging at our very souls. Yanking at us making it harder to remain settled and soothed at the space that had become home.

Slowly it wound around us, crushing and consuming until it wasn't able to be ignored anymore.

When at the end of the third night we found ourselves bundled up in the car driving towards Her.

Habaek oppa remained in the back this time.

A rare occurrence.

But he'd seen the way this call had been stronger and merciless, had seen the way it had made me weaker in comparison to them. Had me crying out, pillow soaked with tears and clothes damp with sweat, eyes glassy and at times fading away, unseeing and unable to focus on the world around me.

And even now my body shuddered and shivered through the call getting stronger and stronger, winding into the very essence of our blood, at the sea salt that poisoned it, called us to Her.

"You'll be okay (Y/N). The pain will lessen." Habaek oppa promises, the air conditioning of the car turned up higher, brushing against skin that was feverish, was burning with the bubbling need to get to Her waters.

I nod, head jerking as I listen to his voice, trying to wash out the roaring in my ears, that sounded like waves crashing against each other, churning waters stirring up a fierce, unforgiving current.

And the closer we grew to the waters, the closer we got to the salty tang that steadily grew sharper through the windows opened, the more simultaneously relaxed and unsettled I felt.

My body reacting to the bit of the Ocean that was in our blood, reacting by getting relaxed by the pain unravelling, the knots easing up because we grew closer to Her dark depths. But also tensing because stepping into Her waters was going to bring pain, was going to bring suffering at our voices once more.

The air is cooler as we step out, my body slumped against Habaek oppa's as we carefully pick our way down to the shore. The rush of the waves are louder, physical and real. Consuming the night's silence with it's sound of water crashing against itself.

Of Her voice almost tangible, Her presence stronger and intoxicating in the most poisonous of ways.

We stop by the shore, tugging off our outer layers and shoes.

The first step is freezing, a jolt to our system as the water laps at our ankles, swirling around us and seeping into clothes.

My hands grip both Habaek oppa and Mi-sun unnie from either side, fingers curled against theirs, palms touching as we wade further into the water, the chill seeping in further, settling into my bones.

My teeth chatter as the water brushes against my throat, body slow being tugged downwards.

And then we're being drawn under, heads sinking under the waters, a final breath before we vanish under rippling waters.

Her very essence filling us, taking control.

And on immediate instinct, I push away the thought of the boys from mind, hide them in the most hidden depths of my mind, hiding them from being seen or sensed by Her.

How are you feeling?

Voice soft and calm, as if asking about her children.

In a twisted way we were, we were sired by Her, made from Her, a part of Her remained in us. So in a twisted, vicious way we were Hers.

I take a shuddering breath, lungs drawing in air despite being submerged in Her dark waters.

"Good."

Sensing when She seems to soften, water wounding around me, curving close in the semblance of an embrace.

It's been a while. I missed you. Wish you could've visited, it gets lonely.

Her voice achingly soft and melancholic. As if she'd been alone, had been suffering without us. Without me it feels.

I bite back the emotions that want to tumble past my lips. Vicious and corrosive.

Needed her to know I was compliant. That my decisions lay in Her interest. I would do anything and everything to protect the boys.

"I've been busy. I've been having trouble sleeping at times." I confess.

Feel the waters shudder and curve away slightly, hear supposed guilt in Her voice when it connects to our minds.

I just wanted you to learn, wanted you to know that ultimately your debt, your service is to Me. I had your wellbeing in mind. She says, achingly soft.

Deceptively too.

I keep my face blank, eyes fluttering shut and drifting low in a show of false compliance and submission.

"And I'll be yours for 30 more years." I murmur.

But unable to hide the way my heart splinters at the thought, emotions unfurling from around me and slipping out.

Hear the confusion and slight anger in Her waters as it shudders, as the sea-life swims harder, desperately.

For your boy toys. It's a sacrifice I never thought you'd take. Not when the salt of your tears have filled My waters and turned it harsher. Not when I thought you'd learnt. Bitterness in Her.

I shake. Feel the two of them press close, Habaek oppa pressed close and protective.

She had no right. Had no right to taunt and comment on things that were torn apart because of Her.

"I did it for them. And you swore on Your waters to never harm them." I repeat.

Reminding Her of the words exchanged after She'd let me go, after She'd let me out of that bubble She'd trapped me in.

She remains silent.

I did.

And then She doesn't speak, silent as three more figures join us.

It's time to Sing.

Waters curling around us and tugging us to do our service. Tugging at clothes and replacing them, crystals clinging to skin, moulding to make us into Her creatures once more.

Turning us into the alluring creatures of death.

Turning us into haunting beauties drawing people to watery graves.

-------

We sink back silently into waters, bodies falling back into Her as She tugs us away, away from the carnage left behind. I slip my eyes shut to banish the sight of the fishing boat now empty and battered. To banish the sight of the fishermen, faces lined with age and golden with the sun slipping into trances. To see blankness take place where their eyes had creased with the laughter lines in the corners.

Feel pathetic and dirty and used as we sink.

But She doesn't let us go.

Doesn't send us back to the very shores we waded in from.

Seems to sense a tension rippling in the currents.

I sense there's something to be said. You've all been...reflective. She muses.

That's news to me, has me turning to look at the others. See the way Suzy unnie squeezes Mi-sun unnie's arm. See the way Chang-wook oppa and Woobin oppa move to flank Habaek oppa's other side. See the water ripple as they swim forward, coming to still in a straight line.

A flanked formation.

"We want you to merciful Ocean lessen (Y/N)'s debt." Suzy unnie says, voice ringing out, waters shifting as she speaks.

I can't do that. A debt is a debt. She says, sounding woefully unapologetic.

"Please. Please lessen it, You know that all of us (Y/N) has been faithful, hasn't broken Your rules, Your accords. She has been obedient, surely one mistake shouldn't cost her a lifetime?" Woobin oppa pleads. Implores.

It makes my stomach churn that his voice is this low, this pleading.

Not when he'd been firm and resolute. Refusing to ever lower himself to Her. Silent and begrudging Her in every moment of service.

There's a low hum. Makes the waters shift around us, curling away from us as if She has retreated away.

Silent.

Her loyalty wavered. For humans. For boys. The words are flung at me, stinging salt that prickles against skin.

"She only did what her heart yearned for. Is it so bad to want someone? Is it so bad that she loved after centuries? After..." Mi-sun unnie asks, voice tainted with grief, a sobbing shriek.

I clutch at her, silently digging fingers to skin to tell her to stop. Not now. Not here.

Not when the salt of Her would make those wounds tear open, not when the salt would be rubbed viciously into them.

Let healing scars lie.

I can't. A debt has been made. Thirty years was the price. Sounding only the tiniest bit softened. But firm. 

A price was to be paid.

My life for seven.

"Then we'll pay. All of us. We'll pay. We'll share the price. Thirty years for the six of us. Surely you can do that?" Chang-wook says softly.

Always so gentle. Always so soft.

And even now his eyes are wide and gentle, even if I know it twists at him.

Not when they were meant to end their service just a bit before ours. Not when they too had mere months left of the debt.

My heart crumples. Shatters.

They can't.

But as my mouth is open to speak, Habaek oppa's hand grips my waist tightly. Squeezing me. A vice grip that doesn't let go.

Silences me.

"Five years. We'll all stay five years more. We'll share the debt." Suzy unnie echoes.

Reiterates.

Please no my mind begs even as my soul traitorously lifts the slightest. 

The silence is defeaning. It's brutal and harsh as it clamps down on my ears as we wait. Wait for Her verdict.

Fine. Five years each. The debt will be shared. Don't forget this mercy. She says.

Voice hardened and soft simultaneously.

Displaying her mercy but also reminding us that She was always in control.

And when we're washed ashore, the six of us tumbling onto the beach, coughing and spluttering, the salt water that stains my cheeks isn't Hers.

It's mine.

Because a burden had been lifted off my shoulder. So unbelievably heavy, but the load had been lessened. Had been shared by five more.

Body curved over myself as it shakes.

The night air chilling the water against skin, against exposed flesh.

Five years.

Five years.

And suddenly I had my life back.

Suddenly I didn't have just today to live for.

I had tomorrow waiting too.

(WHOO! THERE WE GO! QUITE AN ANGSTY EMOTIONAL CHAPTER COME OUT FOR YOU ALL! WE HAD UPS AND DOWNS AND ALL AROUNDS! WE HAD JIMINIE AND HOBI ARGUING...WE HAD BABY SIREN'S INSECURITY AND HER WORRIES. WE HAD JIN AND MINNIE PUTTING THEM TO REST. AND WE HAVE THE UNKNOWN HOVERING OVER THEM! BECAUSE THEY DON'T KNOW WHAT'S WRONG, DON'T KNOW WHAT SHE'S HIDING AND WHETHER THEY'LL KNOW! AND!! WE HAVE THE OCEAN'S CALL! WE HAD A HAPPIER ENDING FOR ONCE AFTER A MEETING WITH HER! AND BECAUSE THE OTHERS DECIDED TO SHARE THE DEBT...THERE WAS NO WAY THAT THEY WERE WILLING TO LEAVE HER BEHIND AND THEY'D BEEN DISCUSSING IT WITHOUT HER KNOWING! AND THAT MY LOVES IS WHAT YOU CALL LOVE! SHARING HER PAIN BECAUSE NO WAY WAS SHE GOING TO BE ALONE WITH IT!! LET ME KNOW HOW YOU FOUND THIS CHAPTER, HOPE IT WAS A GOOD SORT OF ANGST WITH THE RESOLUTION! STAY SAFE AND TAKE CARE TOO LOVES!)

QUESTION...FAVOURITE THING TO COLLECT/HOARD? IF YOU DO THAT IS!

Mine is... cute stationary! A SUCKER for them...whether that's washi tapes, stickers, pastel coloured stuff...notebooks. Anything and everything cute! It's just a shame that it doesn't get used.

Borahae! 💜💜💜

PurpleQueenie <3