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written-in-flowers · 4 months

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Get in the Water || PSH X fem!Reader

Pairing: Seonghwa x fem!reader / Side pairing: Mingi x Yunho

Word count: 1k

Genre: angst, slight bit of fluff

Summary: The sea god finds the person who killed his lover, and has only four words for them. Seonghwa can only watch for so long.

Tags: murder, mentions of murder, established relationship, nothing particularly bad tbh. You and Seonghwa have a kid. YN not physically featured. Mentions of pregnancy and talk of futures.

A/N: inspired by the song "Get in the Water" from Epic: The Musical

****

The sea king only had one request for the captain:

"Get in the water".

Seonghwa saw the water starting to swim in his eyes, yet his face not showing sadness or pain. The young pirate saw nothing but anger. Fury. Pure rage. He saw the god's hands, long and large, curled into fists that were ready to guide the seas onto their vessel. He glanced over to Hongjoong, his captain and best friend, who stared back at Mingi, God of the Seas, with defiance. Seonghwa knew this was only a show of bravery. He caught his captain's trembling hands, the resistance in his eyes slowly fading as the two stood towards one another.

Standing on top of a rock that erupted from the sea floors, Mingi, God of the Sea, wore the plated breastplate with his horse sigil on his chest. His crown, made of driftwood and pearls, sat upon a mop of black strands and the trident he held was made of shining steel. The lower half of his body was a merman's tail of the deepest black, shimmering even against the crashing waves hitting his perch. Hongjoong, in his own armor, planted himself firmly on the dock. With a small step or push, Hongjoong could indeed get in the water. Once in the deep, dark depths, the sea god will have him.

All because Hongjoong wanted gold.

"Get in the water," Mingi repeated, his piercing eyes narrowed on him.

"For what reason?" Hongjoong replied in a shaky voice. "What have I done to offend you, Sea God?"

"You took what was most precious to me. You slew the one who calmed my angry oceans and warmed my cold heart. You killed the only person I ever loved," Seonghwa heard his voice crack at the last person. "So now...Get in the water, captain."

Seonghwa knew of whom Mingi spoke: the siren on the shores of the golden island. Siren scales fetch hefty prices in the market places. They are said to attract love and fortune. Hongjoong believed a siren's tail would make him a rich man. Seonghwa told him he was foolish to believe so. They'd all die for certain. With wax in their ears, their orders clear, Hongjoong and the rest of the crew hunted down sirens in the farthest reaches of the sea. Seonghwa regretted what he'd done, but he had a family back home. He had you and your son, Minho.

"Get in the water," Mingi said again, "Or I'll bring the waves so high everyone in your little shanty sea town will die."

Hongjoong paused, that resistance starting to crumble. Tempest may not be the most glamourous of places, but it was home for their crew. Seonghwa thought of the sea breeze that blew through the tiny village. He saw you at the tavern, serving drinks and food to hungry sailors and fisherman. He thought of your smooth, supple skin and warm kisses. Your smile and laugh haunted his dreams. He pictured his own son, Minho, running down the sandy roads with his friends. You tell him he's a spitting image of his father. Seonghwa's heart shattered thinking of his home, his family, and everyone he knows drowning and not able to save them.

"Wait..."

"I'll make tidal waves so profound," he said, "Both your wife and children will drown."

Suffocating. That was how drowning felt. Seonghwa recalled the time he'd fallen overboard during a storm. The waves almost pushed him under each time he came up for air. The currents carried him farther and farther, tossing and crushing him. Even on land, he could feel his lungs contracting as air was sucked out of him.

"No, please..."

"Get in the water."

"I didn't mean to-"

"-You didn't mean to?" Mingi snapped, and he swore he saw lightning slash through the sky in the distance. Seonghwa saw the waves around them suddenly turn dark, rolling onto one another over and over as if reaching for Hongjoong. "Did not mean to kill my beloved and steal his tail? To take his life in hopes of gaining riches? Get. In. The. Water, you pathetic human filth!"

The thunder rumbled along with the god's insult

"Don't mistake my threats as bluffs, captain," he continued. "I will go to your little town and crash every ship that comes your way. I will bring rain and water until it floods their crops and destroys their homes. I will leave your people with nothing! Nothing, you hear me?!"

Hongjoong's pride came back over his face. "I don't think you will. You make claims all the time and never followed through."

"Captain, what are you doing?" Wooyoung, the ship's builder, asked in disbelief.

"He's all talk."

"Are you insane? He will crash our ships if we go out to port. How will we get home?"

They're so close to home. Seonghwa could almost smell your cooking in his nose. He could feel Minho's little arms around his neck, his body in his arms as he kissed his precious face. Your warmth in his bed. His son's bright eyes glimmering up at him with happiness. He'd trade all the siren scales and gold in the world to be back home.

"Get in the water."

"He can't touch me," Hongjoong said to Wooyoung, "As long as I'm on land."

"Get in the water," Mingi said once more, trident twisting into the hard rock beneath. Seonghwa knew with one swing of that weapon, the ocean around them will sink their fleet and homes. "Or I will release the kraken. I will call upon the sea serpents of the north, the giant squids of the south, and the monstrosities of the deepest depths. They will break your ships. They will break you and your crew."

He thought of all the sea monsters his grandfather used to tell him about. Beasts so terrifying and deadly that sailors steer clear of their hunting grounds. He pictured himself being eaten by such beasts, no longer there to protect and provide for his growing family. You must be swelling by now, from what your last letter told him. You told him right before he left for the sea again: you're pregnant. With another mouth to feed, your wages as a barmaid will not cut it. You needed him. He needed you. What if you died in childbirth?

"Get in the water."

And Minho and your baby end up alone?

"Get in the water!"

His son will be put to work; work unfit and unsafe for a boy of seven. The babe will be given away or worse.

"No!"

Minho is a gentle lad.

"Get in the water!"

He loves the sea. He loves fishing and swimming. He collects seashells and starfish.

"Get in the water!"

Those things will be taken from him. His innocence will be stolen, no doubt.

"Get in the water!"

The ocean started to swell. For the briefest of moments, he saw a tentacles break the surface before diving back down. Too long and too thick to be any ordinary creature. You needed him. You mean so much to him. He knew he loved you the night he met you at the Rusty Pot. The banter between you both made him feel alive, and your smile warmed him from head to toe. When you said 'yes' the night by the water, he'd been the happiest man. No treasure trove or siren scale could replace his love for you.

"You can find another," Hongjoong scoffed. "It's not as if I killed them all."

Hongjoong, a ladies' man who frequented brothels, never experienced real, deep love before. He'd never understand. Seonghwa knew if someone ever harmed you, he'd gut them himself. He remembered the siren. A male with deep black hair and round eyes that looked so innocent. He'd been sitting on a rock, enjoying the ocean breeze and singing softly to himself. The silver chain and charm on his neck should've clued them in: a prancing horse, so similar to the one on Mingi's breastplate, matched the one Hongjoong snatched off his corpse. His grandfather told him all about the sea god's favorite: a siren named Yunho, who had the most beautiful singing voice. They'd grown up together, he'd told Seonghwa. Side-by-side, moving through the decades and centuries together. He'd always wanted a love like theirs; he'd gotten it in you.

"You...Pathetic...Worthless...Weakling..." the sea god's fury came down in thunder and lighting, dark clouds overcasting the sky. "You dare..."

It'd been Hongjoong who killed him. He launched the net that pulled him into the boat. He'd screamed. Seonghwa's eyes closed as those screams and pleas echoed in his ears. He'd looked so scared. Hongjoong slaughtered him without mercy. Seonghwa had helped.

"Get in the water. You've lived more than enough, little pirate."

But, it was Hongjoong that Mingi wanted.

"He wasn't even that pretty."

Surely, he'd spare the crew if the one who killed his beloved was dead.

"Are you mad?!" Wooyoung called out.

They'll die because of their captain's greed and pride.

"Kind of weird for a god to care so much for a lesser being..."

Seonghwa could not let that happen. He must get home to you, Minho and your baby. He hoped it was a girl. He'd like a daughter who would be her mother in miniature. You're likely due any day now. The doctor said you'd likely already have the baby by the time he came home. The flicker of another tentacle, this time bright pink, floated through the thrashing waves. A squid. A kraken and a squid.

"Get in the-"

He did not know what made him do it: the desperation to get home, the need to see his family again and hold his newborn child, or perhaps fear of losing his own life. Thinking of his house at the edge of town, he pressed his hand to Hongjoong's back and pushed him into the waves. Only Seonghwa heard his screams so close to the water, the rest only heard more rumbling and crackling. He stared down, tears filling his eyes and guilt in his heart, and saw Hongjoong's arms desperately reach for the surface. Right as his face broke the waves, he was quickly yanked back down. Even in the darkness, Seonghwa saw crimson clouds color the sea foam created by the waves.

Mingi's cruel cackle struck fear into his chest. Seonghwa stared up to see the sea god laughing, throwing his head back a moment before continuing to watch the kraken tear the captain apart. When the waters stilled, the blood starting to fade with the tides, he looked at Seonghwa.

'YN...I love you. Minho, my sweet boy, I'm sorry.'

Mingi stepped a foot forward and immediately a wave caught him. He walked along the ocean surface until he reached the edge of the dock. Seonghwa shivered in place, rain and mist starting to seep into his clothes.

"You just killed your captain, sailor," Mingi said. "Why?"

"I have a family," he whispered. "A wife whose pregnant...an eight-year-old son who hardly has his sea legs...I cannot let his greed take them from me. I told him, your greatness, that killing sirens is a sin against the sea. Killing Yunho, the most enchanting of them all, was foolish and would only bring pain and devastation. He did not listen. I was not going to lose my family over his greed." He mustered his courage and said, "Is your vengeance satisfied, great sea lord?"

Mingi hesitated. Seonghwa saw him contemplating the question. He then finally said, "I've seen you before...You've come to my altar."

"Every time I go onto the water, my lord."

"Your wife's name is YN...Your son is Minho...You've given my offerings for protection at sea..."

"I am all they have. If I die, life will be difficult for them."

"You must love them very much to kill a good friend so swiftly."

"I do. More than any scale or gold coin in the world." He held back his tears, "I am just a man whose trying to go home."

He stayed silent a moment longer. "You may go, but know this, should you or your crew ever sail in my oceans again you will experience my anger firsthand."

"We understand, my lord."

Seonghwa watched him return back into the ocean. As the waves stilled again, Seonghwa turned away and walked back down the dock without a word. He had to get home. He could find work on a dock or in a shipyard. He could get a job where he'd be on land.

He'd done it all to be with you.

****

A/N: this idea came to me at 4am, and I needed to write it lol I really love the songs from Epic: The Musical, and couldn't help seeing Mingi as a vengeful sea god. 'Get in the Water' is definitely one of my favorites. Hope you guys enjoyed this short, angsty tale <3

#ateez #ateez fanfiction #park seonghwa #seonghwa x reader #song mingi #kim hongjoong #jeong yunho #seonghwa ateez #hongjoong ateez #yunho ateez #yungi #ateez yungi

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awritingcaitlin · 1 year

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🎶Find the Word🎻

I was sorta tagged by @legiomiam for the words: smile, charge, under, and change

(Because I always love doing these.)

Tagging: @tananaphone, @samplewriting, @circa-specturgia, @runeseaks, and @nanashi23 for the words: loud, learn, lose, labor, and loop

(Also no pressure/rush!)

Snippets from Relic of the Gods under the cut!

🎶SMILE🎶

The loudest voices were the ones closest to the stage, save for one man off to the side and farther back. He was tall and muscular, and the one requesting ‘Tips for the Time’. For a second, Em thought she’d seen his eyes flash gold. But of course, when she looked again, his eyes were nondescript. A trick of the light? Or perhaps an astral, not a common occurrence in Berthingtonn.

Em smiled and offered a pleasant laugh to the crowd, her stage persona flickering on.

“One at a time!” she told them cheerfully.

She already knew she’d start with ‘Tips’, which could easily flow into ‘Sandy’s Road’ if she played ‘Star of the Sea’, another shanty, in between. ‘Down the Well’ was not as upbeat of a song, so she’d have to weave that one in later.

She began to play, and the crowd began to sing. Em fell into the notes, songs she had learned by rote because she’d learned to play well before she’d taught herself to read music. The crowd sang raucously and vigorously. As they should for a shanty about old laws of the sea meshing with new laws of the land. Then the song about looking to the stars and working with the sea and sky.

👛CHARGE👛

Brianna closed Lelia’s folder. “Sounds good dear.”

“Don’t we charge at…” the other lady began.

“We have to charge them before they go back there,” Brianna explained. “But she’s just ordering serums, which means we charge her when we hand them to her. The invoice is the paper trail, that’s all.”

“I’ll be back,” Lelia said. She waved, turned, and headed for the door. Her hip gave a couple of complaints, but kept with the program of walking.

She chided herself for not stopping at the bank first. She knew roughly how much her serums cost. She should have counted her coin beforehand. She definitely wasn’t going to have them send a bill to the address on file.

🎻UNDER🎻

Em was now looking at the violin with scrutiny. “You almost can’t tell,” she said. “But there’s no way that’s actually functional.”

Lelia shook her head. “Nope, as soon as you tried to tune the strings, it would snap right back off under the tension. When I put the strings on it, I’ll leave them loose enough to prevent that, but it’ll look good enough for the illusion to do the rest.”

“Do you think that violin would be at all repairable?” Em mused.

Lelia shrugged. “I’m not sure. I’m just a bit creative and handy. You’d probably have to replace the whole neck, and after the cost of parts and labor…”

“You’re better off buying a new violin,” Em agreed.

🔐CHANGE🔐

“We should make sure the security doesn’t change for the gala,” Ronan said.

“What do you mean?” Em asked.

“That they don’t add extra wards, essentially,” Ronan said.

“That’s what Caleb’s for,” Em pointed out. “Even if we don’t see him before go-time, Verity’s going to get him in the telepathy loop. He can warn us of changes since he’s enough of a mage he can see the otherwise non-detectable stuff.”

It had always been Em’s least-favorite part of jobs that she couldn’t see enchantments that casters didn’t want to be seen by the average person. She’d always needed to rely on a mage skilled at sensing and piercing them. But, at the same time, she didn’t doubt Lelia’s abilities. She wouldn’t have included her otherwise.

#tag game #find the word #my writing #relic of the gods #em #lelia #ronan

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